THE CHURCH IN NEW ZEALAND

New Zealand Tablet, 14 November 1918, Page 37

THE CHURCH IN NEW ZEALAND

HISTORICAL NOTES.

The Kev. Robert Ward (Primitive Methodist), in his book Life Among the Maoris of New Zealand, published in 1872, says: The activity of the Catholic Church is admirable. The priests are found in the wards of the hospitals, in the cell of the felon, in the cottages of the poor, and in the houses of the rich. Their children are taught in the schools conducted by the Sisters of Mercy'. Some of their clergy are stationed in the towns, some in the country places, others travel about over extensive portions of the province. There are two bishops, four vicars-general, and 33 priests engaged in the country, partly [among the Maoris and partly among the colonists. More than half the number of priests we believe are Frenchmen, and many of them speak English with difficulty ; yet their influence among their own. people is considerable, and will no doubt make a deep impression upon the future of the colony. In Notes About the Antipodes and the Antipodeans published in 1875, the author (Mr. Thomas A. Scot, of Bombay, India) wrote: —There is no doubt that the trading missionaries soon became numerous, and made their deteriorating influence felt in New Zealand. As early as 1843, Dr. Dieffenbach gives the names of ten of these people who had acquired about a hundred thousand acres at about sixpence an acre. lands worth now from ten pounds even to twenty pounds. One family in particular is conspicuous in the list which has tarnished by their rapacity, and landsharking, a name that once stood high amongst the Natives as well as Europeans. This traveller contrasts the conduct of these men with that of the Catholic priests, "whose humble and disinterested manner of living, and the superior education which they have generally received, have procured them many friends both amongst Europeans and Maoris, and many converts." To the other coarse beings entirely attached to material interests the future of the Maori was a matter of total indifference "and they made no attempt to confront the carriers of demoralisation, whom if they had been in earnest themselves, or if the country-had been in earnest, care might at least have been taken to see that the flagrant offences of these corrupters met with the punishment they deserved." All they thought about was to secure good estates for themselves, and make as much as possible out of those lands under their control, set apart for the benefit of the people they .were supposed to be busy instructing. The old Spaniards in their thirst for gold did not injure the aboriginals of Mexico and Peru very much more than the Anglo-Saxon colonists of the nineteenth century have the Maoris, in their desire to gain possession of their ancestral lands. It is not enough for them that in accordance with "the mysterious agency at work by which wherever the white man has trod. death seems to pursue the aboriginal," they could not wait for their extirpation taking place in time, but hastened it by wars and ardent spirits. There will be no remains seen by after generations left by the colonists of New Zealand such as the wildest deserts of Arizona and Sonora. strike the traveller with as-

tonishment testifying to the wonderful influence once acquired by the Jesuit missionaries, and success, if not in proselytising, at all events in civilising the American Indians which' they wisely j set about always in the first place." Reprint notes of "Forty Four years ago," in the Dunedin Star of October 19 contains the following: "Father Coleman advised Bishop Moran of the departure of the May Queen for Port Chalmers. Among her passengers are Fathers Higgins and Gleeson. Sailing by the Calypso are Fathers Walsh and O'Leary." In the following Saturday's issue-appeared "The Calypso, from London, arrived on the 26th on her maiden voyage to this port. She was owned by Captain Leslie, who brought her out and described her as the counterpart of the May Queen. Her saloon passengers included Rev. Fathers Walsh and O'Leary. The appended interesting sidelight on early missionary doings in New Zealand has lately been going the rounds of the press:—"The history of New Zealand shows that the Maori race, as a people, had ideas and principles, which even to-day are being put to practical advantage. ' That anticipates the £5 war bonus," commented Mr. Justice Hosking in the Supreme Court at Auckland, when Mr. A. E. Skelton, acting for plaintiff on the case in progress, said that the area of land in question, somewhere about Okaihau, was described in the lease as ' children's land.' Counsel added (says the Star) that years ago there was an arrangement by the Maori chiefs and people in those parts that for every child born of the missionary there an area of 100 acres was set apart for the child. That explains why the land was known as 'children's land,' concluded counsel. His Honor said he understood that the ' gift ' amounted to a reward to the missionary for his children."