THE YOUNG MAORI PARTY.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2588, 24 August 1909, Page 7

THE YOUNG MAORI PARTY.

<By C. A. Young.)

Some misunderstanding exists as to the origin and constitution of what is called the Young Maori Party. This party, is supposed to represent the educated youth of the Maori race. This it does not do. But it does represent the success or otherwise of the system of education approved and encouraged by the Government at their Native schools, and at the Missionary Native Schools of •the Anglican Church, such as those at •Te Aute, near Hastings, and St. Stephen’s, Auckland. Let us consider this, question. —The Origin of the Young Maori Party.— More than thirty years ago (in 1878), when the educational usefulness of Te Aute Native School had for a time declined, the late Archdeacon Samuel Williams, who had identified himself so much with the Missionary education of the Native race, secured the services and able professional assistance of Mr John Thornton as Headmaster. The idea with which the new headwater appears to have set out was to provide the Maori youth with an opportunity to qualify for the learned professions, and generally to uplift the Native race: a truly humane and philanthropic idea. Hope was in the ascendant, and failure was not ddeamed of, and so, after a time (1885), every student was educated to face the University Matriculation examination. During these thirty years more than five hundred youths have passed under the Headmaster’s hands—the pick of all the Government and of the Anglican Church Missionary schools—and those who have succeeded in assimilating a university education can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Much attention was paid to their religious education, but little or none to technical and manual training. The marly were sacrificed to the few, everything Maori was to be eliminated, and these youths Europanised in one generation. —a hopeless task. No provision ' was made for those who fell by the way. Out of the bountiful made for general education, in the shape of some 7000 acres of rich land,’ granted hv the Governor, Sir George Grey, and”the local Maoris, no provision was made to utilise the many who fell out in the race for the university by educating them in agriculture or a knowledge of the manual crafts. It could not have 1 been foreseen that so many would fail, but it might have been -foreseen that of the few who attained success and became lawyers and doctors, the pakeha feminine would have none of the latter, and the pakeha masculine none of the former, while the Maori would only accept the communistio service of either —without payment. •—Government Adopts the Young Maori

Party.— In this stress of the situation, the Government, in the person of the Native Minister, came to the rescue. Indeed, Government employment —as a bright light in the dark attracts moths —became the attraction and incentive to all these young lads educated under this system of Government education, which,” also, until quite recently, made no attempt to train the young Maori to utilise the land of hi. s inheritance, or to enable him to earn his own living as a craftsman. Eighteen years after the advent of the headmaster (in 1896), Te Ante College Students Association was formed, which is now known as the Young Maori Party, the objects of which were in every way commendable! it will thus be understood that the socalled Young Maori Party is purely and simply a proselytising emanation of the Anglican Church Maori College, and they represent a small but prominent section of the young Maori people. This prominence is partly due to the distinguished ability of a few of the leading young men of the party, hut. greatly due to the support and encouragement the Government has given them. By far the greater proportion of the Maori people are outside the pale of the Anglican Church, many are Wesleyan* and Roman Catholics, a very (chare Presbyterians (the Presbyterian Church has not been very active in mission work among the Maoris). Many are yet outside the pale of every church, and an increasing number are being shepherded by the Mormons. So much then for the origin of the Young Maori Party, the leaders of which’have repeatedly stated on public platforms their desire to lead their fellow countrymen along the path of progress in civilisation hand in hand with their pakeha friends. Let us consider how they are doing this?

PARLIAMENTARY REPRESENTATION. Speaking at a No-license demonstration recently at Christchurch the Anglican Church Maori clergyman, the Rev. F. Bennett, said: “The time has not yet come when we- can do away with rnir Maori representatives. With men like the Hon. A. T. Ngata and Mr Te Rangihiroa (Dr P. H. Buck) it was no easy matter for the Natives to give up iiieir representatives. These men were better than 75 per cent, of the pakeha members.” This gentleman is also of the Young Maori Party, which has for its object the improvement of the moral, social, and political condition of their fellow countrymen—all honor to them—but surely there is some inconsistency in opposing the improvement in the social and political status of the Maori which would certainly result were all special Native legislation repealed, and the Maori permitted to stand forth as a British subject, w'ith ecpial rights under similar laws as his pakeha neighbor? It is a curious admission for one of the leaders of the Young Maori Party to make “that the time has not arrived yet.” What has the Young Maori Party been doing then since their inception thirteen years, ago? —Racial Comparisons.— The Native pride of the reverend gentleman rather carries him away, and he would be wise to avoid all racial comparisons, as, unfortunately, there are and will be quite an increasing number of such comparisons put forward by the pakeha. —Party Politics.—

Fortunately for his race the reverend gentleman appears so far to have remained outside the domain of politics. Whatever influence the other leaders of the Party might have acquired in educating their people, had they remained outside the political arena, has been lost s for want of independent action. Like Lazarus of old, they sit expectant of the crumbs which fall from the rich man’s table. Their aspirations, even their inclinations, must remain subservient to the politics of the political party they have attached themselves to, and their sphere of usefulness to their people is minimised thereby. As a case in point, it may be mentioned that, about the time the reverend gentleman was demonstrating in ■favor of No-license in Christchurch, his confreres, the Hon.' A. T. Ngata, apd Te Rangihiroa, were silent in Parliament; while the pakehas in and out of Parliament were drawing public atteni tion to the shameful way iu which Go-

vernment had recently broken faith with the Maoris in permitting licenses to be granted for the sale of liquor in the King Country. —Lost Opportunities.—

Without going into the political arena, there was a large field in which they might have produced great results. They might have united their people in a racial union, when the power of unity would have commanded respect. In such a combination every 'effort for th© moraf and social uplifting of the people would have had immediate effect. As it is, their people remain in ignorance, and are suffering from wasted opportunities, neglected by those who profess to lend them. Much has been expected of these enthusiastic young people in the way of helping to settle their people upon their lands, but, as will here be seen, they really have " little power to influence their race in such matters as the disposal of their land. After 13 years the influence of the Party is little felt beyond the East Coast, where it emanated, and even there the Hau Hau and Mormon sects are increasing in numbers, and the Government Native schools are being shut up in opposition. Then there has been a great opportunity wasted on the West Coast, where a smouldering discontent exists consequent on the unjust and iniquitcms misappropriation by Government of the land Crown granted to the loyal Natives who fought on our side during the wars. Again, last year, when the seers of Parahaka,- Te Whiti and Tohu died, there was a great opportunity for the Young Maori Party also neglected. Have the leaders ever considered the great disadvantages the Maoris on the Tong West Coast suffer under in the scarcity of Native schools there? What a travesty, what a satire on morality, what a pulling of political strings to make the moral platitudes of the Young Maori Party subservient to the exigencies of a political party was seen, in removing Te llangihiroa (Dr P. H. Ruck) from his sphere of usefulness as Health Officer for the Maoris to the dummy position of a Maori Member of Parliament. Here is a native of Uranui—a - 'West Coast Maori—well acquainted with the many grievances of his people there, a fit and proper candidate to oust the sitting Member for the Western Maori District, if morality and the uplifting of the Maori race was to have any consideration 1 But why continue? Unfortunately there have been many such wasted opportunities, and all who wish well to the Maori race must deplore this inherent weakness of their character, which makes them as clay in the hands of the potter ; a people without the faculty of combination, a people without a leader, distracted 'by tribal divisions and rival scheme's. —Segregation of Races Impossible.—■ Abolishing all special Native legislation, and bringing the Maoris in every respect under the same laws as the pakehas, would shed a wonderful educational light upon the Native race, and if their leaders were wise they would avail themselves of every opportunity of advocating instead of opposing such a change in the social status of the Maori; for the time is fast approaching when it will be too late. In connection with this, the writer recalls that when this question was being considered at the Maori Congress in Wei-

’!gton laffc year, the . leader of the Young Maori Party, the Hon. A. T. Ngata, opposed any change in Parliamentary representation after the Native Minister had almost offered to place the Maoris on the same Parliamentary roll as the Pakeha. A possible explanation., of this apparent inconsistency may be found in a desire to maintain the segregation of the Maoris as a race, and certainly the avowed land policy of their leaders suggests such an explanation; hut, however desirable this may be, to every student of history it is clearly impossible. —The Rising Tide of Discontent.— As a warning, but with the greatest reluctance, the writer draws attention to the racial feeling fast developing into an active force in Taranaki, the King Country, and throughout the Auckland province, -which is being intensified by the present Government’s vacillating Native Land Policy. This is a fact -which any intelligent traveller interested in this question may ‘observe for himself, and which the newspapers of the North have for some time past been giving voice to. It is clearly*to the interest of the Maori and pakeha alike that both races should be brought under the same laws, and better this should be done at once than wait until angry feelings are excited. At present the Maori’s possession of much land makes him a potential power in the land, and therefore his vote exercised. under the same laws as the pakeha would ensure him being treated with respect, but in a little time longer, when his land has been frittered away by the various processes so well known to the Native Affairs Department, and the Maori is left with only the remnants of his land —well, let the intelligent AnglorSaxon look abroad in the world, where his. race has subjected a Native race, for the logical answer to this statement.

It may be said the Maoris are a superior race. This is readily granted by the writer —although it might be advanced that this, admission applied more in the past than in the present tense —hut' he ventures to assort that •his will only be generally and freely granted so long as .the Native not come in sharp opposition to his Pakeha friend. —Other Influences Make .for Good.— As has been said, the objects of the Young Maori Party were in every way commendable, but from the inherent weaknessess of the race they have failed to make their influence felt in any appreciable degree. Other influences, though, have been at work and are succeeding, viz., the missionary churches, association with, pakeha neighbors, the administration, of pakeha laws to the Maori, the influence of their hereditary chiefs, such as Tupu Taingakawa, Te Heu Heu, and others who discourage intemperance, the increasing number being converted by the Mormon missionaries, who insist upon abstinence from indulging in alcohol and tobacco; also a great educational force has been the Native Health Department under Dr Pomare, and last, though not least, the influence of the teachers of the Native schools. —Out of Touch With the Older Generation. —

The weakness of the Party • lies in their dissociation from the elder men of the race, while they themselves buzz within the arc light of pakeha patronage. The one absorbing subject of interest to the Maori is, How to obtain and control the disposal of his laud, and as the Young Maori Party has identified itself with the Native Land Policy of the present. Government, it .has consequently little or no influence over the great bulk of the race. With' no land themselves they have no raana. Had "their leaders taken the education they have acquired among their people, and have preached the doctrine of progression under the Pakeha stead of being content with circulating paragraphs among the pakeha newspapers, there would nc-t now have been opposing factions with impossible schemes of land settlement, such as wo.

see in Mahuta’s : and Kaihau’s utopian scheme for the gathering of the Waikato and King Country Maoris at Ngaruawaliia, Te Heu Heu’s scheme of separate tribal rights around Lake Taupo, Pepene Eketone’s land settlement scheme for his Maniapotos, and honest old Tupu Taingakawa’s scheme for his people cultivating theiri lands without the intervention of the Maori Land Board. Poor people I A most interesting and loveable race! but whose progress towards civilisation is retarded by tribal distractions and superstitious customs. They are about the only decadent race in history which has not . produced a leader strong and popular enough to unite all discordant elements into one organised effort. Nevertheless their progress thus far has been truly wonderful, and would have been greater had Government years ago settled them upon their own lands. —Resume.— The apparent result then is that Government has educated these youths who form the Young Maori Party, and has to provide them with occupation and employment. They have been spoon fed and have none of them yet, however capable, struck out for themselves to make a name or gain fame by their own unaided efforts. The Government of the day has called them into- being, is leading them along by the hand, with that Government they will fall, and when that day comes—and come it must—these young men will perhaps see the folly of having put all their eggs into one basket, and regret they did not form a Young Maori Party free and independent of either of tlio rival pakeha political parties. Mr Thornton’s idea of thus uplifting the Maori race by moans of its young men was a fine conception, and had the Native land question been settled previous to its inception, and had the Maoris enjoyed equal civic rights, there is no reason to doubt but that it would have succeeded.

In conclusion, let it be said, this is no attempt to discourage, but rather to point out to' the Young Maori Party, in what they may be said to have failed, with the hope they may yet be ablo to gather into association able representatives of 'all the tribes, irrespective of religious creeds and political parties, and'to establish their party on a platform of independence.