MAORI REHABILITATION

Waikato Times, Volume 118, Issue 19631, 18 July 1935, Page 3

MAORI REHABILITATION

PLEA TO ROTARY CLUB.

THE NATIVE THEN AND NOW.

EARLY PAKEHA’S EVIL INFLUENCE.

Not many people realise the problems that face this country, nor the responsibilities, in the matter of Maori and pakeha relationships, said Mr D. M. 'Campbell, of Horonui, in an address to the 'Hastings Rotary Club, when 'lie made an impressive plea lor a more understanding and sympathetic attitude towards the native race. Mr Campbell began his address by giving an extremely interesting outline of the ancient Maori culture and social and religious systems, and went on to say: “In ancient days Maori village life was an exhibition of communal living at its very highest, and want was practically unknown. Until the landing of the pakeha the Maori had no neglected and underfed children, there were no loafers, no unemployed, no criminal classes,, no unfortunate women, and no hereditary non-workers. “The moral code of the old-time Maori was of the strictest, but the arrival of the pakeha changed everything. The traders, who'closely followed the whalers, paved their evil way with rum, under the influence of which, to obtain muskets, the Maoris deteriorated sO far as to barter lands and any possession that the pakeha coveted. Deceiving Stranger. “Being a man whose word was equal to anyone else’s bond, the Maori took the pakeha at face value, and as the soul of honour, not realising that the stranger was deceiving and robbing him. Many of the so-called murders of whites by natives were duo to broken faith, the Maori considering that a man who breaks faith with his friend is certainly not fit to live. “Soon a number of diseases were rearing their ugly heads among the .Maoris, particularly among those whose morals had been undermined by rum. Now, too, was being borne in upon (he Maoris that, In presentday idiom, they had been well and truly stung by the . while strangers who had gained such a foothold already in their beloved country. With that realisation came those raids and killings that with the inter-tribal wars led lo the great Maori wars with the British. In those wars an entire quarter of the Maori race, was slain, and the remainder found themselves outcasts and landless, having lost everything and being treated as treacherous natives, which they never were. “As the children grew up, gone was the old spirit of the race. They grew up a beaten race, many of them carrying hereditary illnesses, many of them outcasts. How could they be expected to carry on the traditions and high Ideals cf a warrior, conquering, pureblooded, and proud? The breed was gone. “If we are to keep our self-respect, for self-respect must be the first rung of the ladder, leading back to the Maori as a race, surely' we cannot leave these magnificent people to dlo out in conditions in which we will not allow, under law, our own people to live." Own Hospitals Needed. The Maori, if given the chance, was a most honest and hard-working man. If the Maori children were cared for 10-day, something useful might be dono towards saving the race. Often they lived crowded in little whares, and their moral values were thus gravely threatened. Often they went to school ill-clad and shivering. "It has sickened me for so long," said Mr Campbell, “that I am glad to come and put some of my views before you." What was desirable was lo put the

Maori back on his own land, and give him back his pride and self-respect. “You will have to give them their own hospitals,” he concluded, “for they are still terrified by the white man’s hospitals. If I can feel that in any small way I can do anything to help these One people, I shall feel that my life has not been wasted.” In thanking Mr Campbell for his address, Mr Mason Chambers said it was a shame that the Maoris’ land had been taken and that the race had been allowed to sink into its present condition. Everything that Mr Campbell had said, he could confirm from his own experience.