158 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



acting as teachers for the instruction of native children ; 

 colonists as ministers of religion preaching the gospel to 

 natives ; colonists as doctors attending to the necessities of 

 the sick natives ; colonists as lawyers pleading in Native 

 Courts ; and yet the prospects of the brightest among the 

 natives are blighted and hopeless, for the reason that the State 

 has made no provision whatever for the utilisation of their 

 services. But we have reached a point in the history of the 

 Maori race when their rights and their duties must be brought 

 up for reconsideration. A national spirit must be aroused 

 amongst them. The decadence of ambition, purpose, and 

 influence is bringing about the destruction of the race, and 

 something is wanted to counteract these influences at the 

 present time if we wish them to continue as a people among 

 us. 



I have briefly touched on some points as affecting the well- 

 being and continuance of the native race which call for atten- 

 tion and amendment. We must look upon the natives as some- 

 thing more than aborigines. They are fellow-citizens, powerful 

 in mind and body, and capable of playing well their parts in 

 the duties of life under conditions suited to their modified 

 surroundings. No native can live without ambition, and 

 ambition can only be aroused by increasing responsibilities 

 and arousing worthy ideals possible of attainment. The 

 scheme such as is suggested below may be incomplete, and by 

 some it may be looked upon as Utopian, but it is one which 

 the present condition of the native race requires to be adopted 

 without delay. As the dominant race it is our duty to strive 

 for the good of those from whom as colonists we have obtained 

 so much. When the Maoris were untouched by European 

 influence they were endowed with qualities which suggested 

 great power and capacity to improve. Their lives were then 

 fully adapted to their environment ; but new conditions have 

 arisen, and everything should be done by the ruling authority 

 to assist the natives in that adaptation to modified environment 

 without which they will disappear as a people and a race. There 

 is no alternative. Little or nothing has been done to assist 

 them in bringing about the needful change. The first step 

 cannot come from the natives, because the end to be reached 

 is government and organization such as the race do not possess. 

 With the disappearance of more than 1 per cent, every year 

 in the native population, such as the last native returns show 

 to have taken place during the past five years, the end cannot 

 be far off unless stayed by the adoption of rational and 

 scientific means. If it is desired that the native race, with 

 their past romantic history and associations, shall disappear 

 from among us, there is no need to take warning, for the end is 

 already assured and it will not be long in coming. But the time 



