to be appointed. His duties would consist of investigating health problems, and lecturing on hygiene. The Native Health Officer would normally have been a European, but the advent of a Maori doctor, by birth a chief—one who had the mana of pakeha learning as well as the authority of lineage—was providential. Dr Pomare was twenty-five, and full of enthusiasm. He had need of it. ‘What we should first do,’ he wrote in a Departmental report, ‘is to educate the mothers how to bring up their children…Educate the mothers to recognise the efficiency of the bath-tub, clean warm clothes, plain and wholesome food, and you will regenerate the Maori quicker than by teaching the youths and maidens embroidery, Latin and Euclid, and then sending them back to live in the same groove as their parents.’ Dr Pomare was quick to see the shortcomings of the education system. ‘We educate them up to a point, then leave them to drift just when we ought to hold on to them, and make them into useful members of society,’ he declared. Undeterred by rebuffs, Dr Pomare threw himself into his work with an enthusiasm equalled only by his lack of material resources, for words alone are poor weapons against inertia and indifference born of ignorance. Every word of advice he gave cut across customs and traditions; horrified remonstrances and threats of personal violence followed his suggestions that old and disused whares should be pulled down, but his answer was to take a fire stick, and within three years burn nearly two thousand such breeding-grounds for rats. The fiercest and most consistent opposition came from the village quacks, who had usurped the position of the old-time tohunga, who were learned men and versed in the medical knowledge necessary for the treatment of the few ailments of pre-pakeha days. Their degenerate successors coupled witchcraft with charlatanism of the grossest description, to the detriment of Maori health. Pomare wrote: ‘I cannot be emphatic enough in condemning these “tohunga”, for I have seen the result of their work. In one pa alone, seventeen of what might have been the hope and pride of their tribe were, I consider, cruelly murdered by the wanton practices of a “tohunga” in whom many natives have faith. I do not think a single one of the seventeen children who were sacrificed need have died, for they were only ill with measles.’ His cry went unheeded, and he battled on alone. He battled on alone, but not unsuccessfully, in the general field of sanitation. As a result of his representations, Maori sanitary inspectors were appointed to see that his recommendations were carried out, and the 1906 census disclosed the heartening fact that the Maori population had increased by 4588. The tide had turned, and his work was justifying itself. During these uphill years another young Maori was studying medicine at Otago University, and in 1905 Dr Peter H. Buck (Te Rangi Hiroa) was appointed Assistant Health Officer, and was stationed in the West Coast area, which included the Wanganui and Taupo districts. It is a coincidence that the first two Maori doctors were born within a few miles of each other, in Taranaki, at that time the most backward of the provinces. Dr Pomare's next victory came in 1907 when his continued importunities resulted in the passing of ‘The Tohunga Suppression Act, 1907’. The penalties were substantial, and tohungaism was a dying force from that day. Maui Pomare was first elected to Parliament in December, 1911. His decision to enter politics resulted from his keen interest in one of the burning questions of the day—the Taranaki land claims. He no doubt felt he could do more to advance the cause of the Maori people of Taranaki as a member of the legislature than in any other capacity. The seat was, however, in the gift of Waikato, and Waikato was approached with the request that for at least one Parliament the Western Maori seat should be relinquished in favour of a Taranaki nominee. Pomare was offered the nomination and accepted, and in the time-honoured way the request for support was sent in the form of song, by Hapimana Tauke, on behalf of Taranaki: Tena koe, Tuku mai koia ra Te tau aroha — He po kotahi nei E awhi ai au, Ka hoki atu ai Ki te hoa tapua Na Hapimana Tauke. I greet you, O let her, O do let her come, The one beloved For but one night With me in fond embrace: Then we will return again To you whom she loves. From Hapimana Tauke. Dr Pomare secured sufficient Waikato votes to be elected, and found himself in Massey's first Cabinet, with the post of Member of the Executive Council representing the Maori Race, (Continued on page 46)