THE MAORI CONGRESS.

White Ribbon, Volume 13, Issue 158, 15 August 1908, Page 1

THE MAORI CONGRESS.

The Maori Congress xvhich recently m**t in Wellington was an epodi-marking event. Never perhaps since the Treaty of Waitangi has Maori history produced anyth ingof such deep import and so far-reach-ing in its probable results. The Young

Maori Party, xvho arranged the < ’ongress, have very evidently the xvelfare of their lace at heart, and they ought to have the hearty sympathies of the Fakehas in their efforts to raise their people in the scale of civilisation. The subjects laid out for discussion were comprehensive, embracing as they did every phase of Maori life. The chief object of the Congress may xv**ll he summed up in a sentence of Mr Xgata's at the impressive opening in the Town Hall : “ We want “ to reach the best in vour civilisation ; “ xve harvehad enough of the worst.” And those who heard the appeals for help to attain this end must have felt stirred t<* assist in some way the noble work. Afternoon Meetings. There were two afternoon meetings for women, to which about thirty Pakehas were invited, including six members of the Wellington W.C.T.C. At each meeting there was good music, chiefly by the Rotorua Maori choir under the able conductorship of the Rev. F. Bennett, and of course there xxas “ the cup that cheers but not inebriates.” At the first meeting Fady Ward presided, and Lady Stout read a paper on her scheme for solving the problem, “ What is to he done with the Maori girls '” Her idea that they should become domestic servants, after being trained in colleges for the purpose,

with great disapproval from the Maoris, and further discussion in the (’on great* showed that such a solution of tlie problem was out of the question. One cannot be surprised that the Maori girls scorned the idea of becoming the servants of the Pakehas, for many of tliem have as much pride, and evenright to have it, as their more civilised sisters.

At the second meeting Lady Ward again presided, though Mrs Doxall our President) practically took charge. The chief features of the afternoon were the addresses by Mr Xgata and Miss Stirling, and a paper bv Mrs Chappie. The capable and popular secretary of the Congress Mr Xgata) gave a short account of laws now in operation among Maoris for temperance reform, and read the petition drawn up by the Congress, to he presented to Parliament that night, urging for further legislation to protect the Maoris from the curse which the white man had introduced to them. Miss Stirling, a Maori girl who has given up her life to temperance work among her people, roused enthusiasm by an account of her work in the Hawke’s Hay district. It was most gratifying to learn that she had been instrumental in forming several W.C.T Cnions, in which 4 he young people were especially interested. Mis Chappie’s paper on “ Whv all women should be abstainers’ was highly appreciated and of practical value. Forming .Maori Unions. The following afternoon, our Union entertained the Maori women, of whom about twenty were present. Some of them already belonged to Cnions, and several oihers with two Pakehas came forward to have the White Ribbon pinned on. They will, we hope, go back to their homes determined to start work among their own people, but they need and asked for assistance, and it is here that our Cnions can help in the good work. It was suggested—and the suggestion met with the hearty approval of Miss Stirling and her fellow-workers—that we should appeal through the pages of the Wiiitk Kihbox to all Cnions that were within reasonable distance of Maoris, strongly urging them to help in the for-

mation of unions among our dark-skinned sisters. It would he a glorious work for some of our unions, and they would probably find that the Maoris could help them in return, for an address from Miss Stirling or any other Maori worker g’ven at any meeting, would eertainly put enthusiasm—without which no good work can he done into many of our members. Not for Show. Mr Xgata, in one of his many tactful, persuasive little speeches, made a pathetic appeal, urging the Pakeha no longer to look on the Maoris from the tourists’ standpoint a> curiosities, but to take them seriously as brothers and sifters, who are striving to rise from the lethargy and degradation into which many of them have fallen. The Congress must have excellent results, but those results will be all the more certain and wide-spread if we, as the white women of Xew Zealand, doomduty towards our less fortunate sisters.

—C.B.L