470 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



I think that, viewed by the Hght of modern research, which shows that 

 all epidemic diseases are due to the pro^Dagation of minute vegetable organ- 

 isms in our bodies, it is somewhat strange that these organisms, which like 

 vaccine tend to sterility when repeated too often, should not have flourished 

 far more on such virgin soils as the bodies of the Maoris. It has occurred 

 to me, but of this I have no proof, that the phthisis which is so invariably 

 and so speedily fatal to the Maoris, may owe some of its severity to the 

 importation of phthisis germs of a stronger and more virulent nature, such 

 germs finding a most nutrient soil in the bodies of the weakly constitutioned 

 Maoris. 



Other Factors. 



Alcohol has undoubtedly assisted in kilhng the natives. The Hquors 

 drunk by the natives are usually the poorest, the worst, and the most 

 adulterated. Alcohol seems to affect them just as it does ourselves. It 

 kills them indh^ectly, by leading to various diseases, and directly by leading 

 to severe accidents. Maoris when drunk will He about anywhere in the rain, 

 or on a damp soil, or with wet clothes on, and this of course leads to more 

 deaths through coughs and colds and rheumatism. The large revenues 

 arising from the sale and lease of their lands are chiefly spent on alcohol. 

 The sexes drink alike, and drink till all the money is gone and the landlords 

 refuse to give them any more credit. 



Tobacco is another evil agent : for the incessant smoking of the worst 

 and most fiery brands, by men, women and children, is certainly produc- 

 tive of a lowered vitality, which shows itself in an enfeebled progeny, and 

 renders all classes more accessible to evil influences. 



Among all Maori experts there is a consensus of opinion that our 

 mode of clothing ourselves, imperfectly adopted by the Maoris, has been 

 to them a source of disease. Formerly, on entering their whares with 

 wet mats, they simply flung them aside, whereas, now, their modern Euro- 

 pean clothing they keep on, and do not change until they are dry. Moreover 

 they do not regulate this clothing to suit changes of weather, but will wear 

 warm clothes in the sultriest weather, and in bitter cold will put on any 

 scanty garments they may have. This undoubedly does lead to many evils, 

 and especially in the case of children, and tends to many disorders which 

 eventually end fatally. 



I agree with certain writers in thinking that indolence is also a cause of 

 their decrease. Formerly they were forced to work continually for a living, 

 now they lead the laziest of lives ; this laziness generates a host of evils. 

 In the United States it has been observed that negro slaves kept at work 

 increased in numbers, whilst freed negroes steadily decreased. 



