A.—No. 3.

EDUCATIONAL RESERVES.

69

But his ready wit suggested the expediency of having recourse to good spirits, who might aid and instruct them ; so he gave out that the spirit of his deceased nephew, who was converted to Christianity in the other world, had come to him by command of the Lord Jesus to tell him how to instruct the Maoris : 1. They were to separate themselves from white people, and avoid all intercourse with them. 2. They were never to touch any intoxicating liquors. 2. They were to attend morning and evening prayer daily, but before doing so they were to walk in procession round the building, then between every seat within the building. 4. Before eating a meal they were to walk all round the room several times, and then read the psalms for the day, the food remaining all the time in the centre of the circle. 5. In leaving or entering a village they were to walk or ride in Indian file, and to say certain prayers before and after crossing a river. 6. In all cases of doubt and difficulty they were to apply to Tamaiharoa. These and many other rules were made and observed by the Maoris. The following was one very curious observance : On returning from prayers in the church to the house where they always assembled before and after service, they walked in solemn silence round the interior of the building; the leader would then pull out his pipe and strike a match ; this was the signal for all present to fall on their knees, while he said grace before smoking. Having invoked a blessing on what he was about to do, he applied the lighted match to his pipe—an example immediately followed all round him. Unobjectionable as many of their proceedings were at first, they gradually assumed a more serious aspect; for not contented with regulating their outward conduct, Tamaiharoa began to teach antichristian doctrines —asserting the necessity of circumcision, and denying the resurrection of our Lord. The strong feeling evoked amongst the Maoris of Kaiapoi and the Peninsula against his heretical teaching will, it is hoped, prevent his gaining many adherents among them; especially as his first followers are already beginning to desert him.

Paper on the Condition and Prospects of the Native Race in the Middle Island. (Referred to in the Evidence of the Rev. Mr. Stack.) The time allotted for this paper will only permit me to refer briefly to some of the causes that hasten the decrease and retard the civilization of the Maori, and to what has been done by the Diocesan Maori Mission to remove them. The Maori population is rather under 400. They reside on the reserves made for them in different parts of the Province. They have no desire to amalgamate with the white population. They prefer to consider themselves a separate nation —allies rather than subjects of the Crown. They feel their inferiority to us, and it wounds their pride. They feel that it would be useless to attempt to compete with the European in the higher walk of civilized life, and their pride forbids them to choose their lot in its lowlier walks. They prefer to stand aside on neutral ground, where they can meet us as equals, where they can govern themselves, and provide for their own wants in their own way, only having recourse occasionally to the white man for assistance. Their domestic habits and customs, and their ideas of the relative importance of matters connected with the concerns of daily life, differ so widely from our own that it is only by isolating themselves within their reserves that they can carry out their own schemes for the happiness and well-being of their community. Whenever a difference arises between two persons about any matter, however trivial, a public meeting is called, a chairman elected, and the subject in dispute discussed and disposed of. Domestic squabbles, scandals, the ownership of property, trespass, breaches of the moral code, are, for the most part, settled in this way. These runangas or public meetings exercise a wholesome check upon the few drunkards to be found among the Maoris, for, as a community, they are at present sober ; not so much because they dislike the taste of intoxicating liquors as because they have seen the ill effects of the abuse of them. Thirty years ago, when the whaling ships refitted in these Southern ports, spirits flowed at times like water through the Maori villages, and men, women, and children might be seen lying dead drunk in and around their huts. At such seasons dreadful crimes were perpetrated, the horrors of which still haunt the older men, and cause them to hail with pleasure the efforts made by their European friends to preserve them from the curse of drunkenness. A drunkard, with us, can only annoy his own family with impunity, but a drunken Maori can annoy a whole settlement. He can enter house after house, and do and say what he likes. The laws of hospitality forbid the door being shut against any countryman, or his forcible ejection from the house, however disagreeable his conduct may be to the owner. Some people think that the restriction on the sale of intoxicating drinks to the Maoris ought to be withdrawn, but I have no hesitation in saying that it would be positive cruelty to do so. It would neutralize all our endeavours to benefit the Maori, and would speedily destroy them, body and soul. As it is, our drinking habits, and the practice of treating, is steadily weakening the influence of the older and wiser among them, who still regard " waipero " as their greatest enemy. Maoris have very little power of self-restraint; and if they had an unlimited supply of liquor in their houses, very few would be able to use it in moderation. Many are, perhaps, aware that the Maoris hold a wake before any funeral. We have had some difficulty of late to prevent the introduction of a new feature into this ceremony, namely, the whisky bottle, the free use of which, on similar occasions, by our Irish friends, has disposed them to think that they are too far behind the age in not adopting this very objectionable addition to the funeral feast. There is a great want of earnestness in the character of the Maori, a deficiency only observable since the colonization of the country. In former times what his hand found to do he dicLwith all his might: his fortifications, houses, cultivations, and canoes —his carving and tatooing—were all well aud