178 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



Mr. Hutchison, S.M., chief enumerator for Kaipara, Wha- 

 ngarei, &c, is convinced that the natives are rapidly dimin- 

 ishing in the north, for he says, " In some of the counties 

 enumerated there appears to be an increase, in others of 

 them a decrease, in the native population. But the increase 

 in one does not set off the decrease in another, and upon the 

 whole there is a positive fallmg-off in the numbers. Some- 

 thing of this result may perhaps have to be discounted, be- 

 cause many of the natives who employ themselves in gum- 

 digging are of a migratory disposition, . . . but these 

 cannot affect the conclusion that the native population, in 

 these counties at all events, is a diminishing, and a rapidly 

 diminishing, quantity." 



The Rev. Mr. Bennett, native minister at Waitara, Tara- 

 naki, informed me that, in his opinion, the natives are not on 

 the increase, and my own experience for more than twenty 

 years along the East Coast leads me to the same conclusion. 



No doubt there has been of late years an awakening in 

 certain quarters of Maoridom. The young men from Te 

 Aute College, the girls from the native schools at Huka- 

 rere, &c, are becoming in a measure alive to the dangers 

 that threaten their race, and friends of the natives are not 

 wanting to help on the " new growth " along European lines. 

 The task is one of great difficulty owing to the opposing 

 interests that exist ; but to the credit of the General Govern- 

 ment be it said that generous efforts have been made during 

 the past few years, and since my former paper on the Maoris 

 was written, to give to the natives the best advice in matters 

 dealing with health and sanitation. Nor have the efforts been 

 thrown away, if we may take the reports of the census 

 enumerators as a guide. For example, Mr. E. C. Blomfield, 

 S.M., in his admirable report on the northern district, tells us 

 that he trusts the " tohungas are falling into disrepute with 

 the Maoris"; that " drunkenness is undoubtedly decreasing"; 

 that " no benefit was ever derived from the gumfields " by the 

 natives; that "farming will undoubtedly be the future of the 

 Maori " ; that the Government should largely direct its atten- 

 tion to this aspect of training, and that " the social condition 

 of the Maori requires more attention. Unfortunately, the 

 women, not being trained to a satisfactory condition of 

 domestic economy, gradually tire of the restraint of keeping a 

 home clean, neat, and in pakeha style, and eventually find it 

 so irksome as to warrant falling back into the free-and-easy 

 style of living pursued by their forefathers"; and he closes 

 with the statement that " more care and attention is required 

 in the domestic education of the women." 



On this latter point the enumerator of the Wairarapa dis- 

 trict remarks, " If some native women or half-castes were 



