Gambling among Maori's.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 284, 9 April 1889, Page 2

Gambling among Maoris.

MUTUAL IMPROVEMENT SOCIETY AND HAIRA TE PIRI’S CRIME.

There was a good attendance at the meeting of the Mutual Improvement Society last night, when the quarterly number of the MS. Magazine was presented, read, and criticised, The Mazagine was up to the usual standard, and one paper especially treats of a subject which is of great interest at the present time. It is deserving of wider publicity than that given in a private journal, and we avail ourselves of the privilege of putting it in print. It is entitled—

A BITTER LESSON. Haira te Piri has been found guilty of a most horrid and cruel murder, and now lies under sentence of death. To heap reproaches on the head of the condemned man, in his present awful position, would be unmanly and uncharitable. There is, however, in the history of his crime, one bitter lesson which may well be taken to heart by the remainder of Haira's race, and indeed by every race— white or black. This horrible murder is directly traceable to gambling. It is unquestionable that Haira was an inveterate gambler, and in allowing the gambling spirit to take possession of him we discern his first step towards the gallows, We have it upon clear and uncontradicted evidence that Haira gambled away on that Monday night the little money he had earned for shearing. Not only did he lose his own money, but also some that was entrusted to him for a

friend. That friend’s money was not a large sum, and no doubt Haira when he staked it hoped that he would double or treble it and obtain more money with which he might minister to the gambling spirit. But he lost. Haira knew he had done wrong, and all day on Tuesday and Wednesday we find him sad and depressed. It is evident that he felt the loss of his friend’s money deeply. “It is the first step that costs,” and in his anxiety to hide one crime we find the cause of a greater and more dreadful crime. Whether lucre alone was the motive for this terrible deed none but the condemned man can tell. We are not privileged to know the workings of the human breast, but we have the fact that one of the first acts of Haira on the morning after the murder was to pay his friend the money he had appropriated for gambling purposes. This makes it tolerably certain that gambling led to the crime, and could Haira speak out no doubt he would say to his race, “Beware of gambling!” From all that one hears this warning would not be unnecessary. It is not the first time that the gambling proclivities of the East Coast natives have been exposed in the Supreme Court at Gisborne. Those resident in Gisborne cannot of course judge whether the gambling spirit is widely prevalent amongst the natives. We can only rely upon hearsay, and that would lead us to

infer that the spirit has a strong hold upon them. But whether it be widespread or not it has at least brought one man to the gallows. Could there be a more startling example of the curse of gambling than that of Haira te Piri? The lives of three persons have been sacrificed with wanton cruelty and a fourth awaits the doom of the murderer. We cannot comprehend why God in his Almighty wisdom saw fit to allow the victims of this terrible tragedy to be cut off so early in life. But if the blood of the Pooks should have a deterrent effect upon gambling amongst the Maoris it will not be spilt in vain. It is a bitter, bitter lesson to gamblers, and let us hope the Maoris at least will profit by it. Brevity being a feature of the contributions to the Magazine, accounts for the shortness of the above article. The other papers were "Reminiscences of a Reporter,” the title of which suggests the subject matter; “A morning walk,” relating a hairbreadth escape during the Te Kooti massacre; “Recreation for laboring men,” pointing out the inadequate provision for anything of the kind in Gisborne; and "Our Women, by a woman," an interesting selected article. The last paper was not read, because of insufficient time.