146 HOW TO LEGISLATE [PART I. 



attractions can town-life have for them^? Being 

 unaccustomed and unwilling to drag on a life of 

 labour and exercise, the native has no means of pro- 

 curing in a town that which is necessary to enable 

 him to equal even the lowest of our labourers in 

 comfort and appearance. The chief, who thinks 

 himself equal in station and importance to any 

 gentleman, will not consent to send his son to the 

 shoemaker, or tailor, or carpenter ; and he would 

 feel himself degraded if he should continue to live 

 amongst enterprising European mechanics. It is 

 true that some New Zealanders have learned a trade, 

 that others have become domestic servants, and that 

 still more have taken to a sea-faring life ; but, 

 generally speaking, they have the best chance of 

 being preserved as a nation, and of becoming civil- 

 ized, by following their own inclination, and be- 

 coming landed proprietors or peasants. Since 

 Europeans have inhabited the island, that is, ever 

 since the colony has been established, the na- 

 tives have not only provided them with food, but 

 have also supplied more than 150 vessels annually, 

 and have freighted smaller vessels for New South 

 Wales with pork, maize, and potatoes. They have 

 increased their cultivations in proportion as emi- 

 grants have flocked to their shores, and they are wise 

 enough to perceive that by these means they can 

 procure what they want, and be independent of 

 the Europeans, without sacrificing their nationality. 

 They would especially be able to do this if they were 



