The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1868-08-15
THE PACIFIC
Commercial Advertiser.
AUGUST Is.
New Zealand nnd Hawaii.

1naptItude OF the New Zealand natives Tor the I'M
provements Of civilization, and also for selfgOy-
eminent. A comparison with the superior pro-
gress Of the Hawaiians adds to the disparagemcnt
of the Maori, whose : : innate animalism F" j. COW
cred, in the opinion Of the writer. with q very
- thin finn The reason for this disparity be-
tween the two people Of 20 nearly kindred race Is
not pointed out in the article, and is in fact there
treated rs a problem very difficult to solve.
Perhaps we may be able to point cut a few rea-
sons why the Hawaiians,-wbom, by the way, no
intelligent writer of the present day ought to call
Sandwich chamberlain thus better off than
their New Zealand reiAtiyes.-better of, even al
lowing that perhaps distance may lend a little
enchantment to the view.
Captain Cook took possession Of these Islands
(the New Zealand group in the name Of his SOW
ereiSn.'' 30 says the historian. What right had
Captain Cook To take possession of n land already
belonging To another branch Of the human race?
Here, we think, is the keynote to the whole pol
icy which has made tire New Zealand natives
what they are, or, in other worls, kept them from
that rank in civilization which they might have
occupied. AZ the very outset they found that
the foreigners considered them the subjects Of m
other kingdom, and thar they could not indulge
in any national pride Of their own.
Years after the Colonization Of New Zealand
had been undertaken, Great Britain e gave the
natives a hag, and Acknowledged their i~ndepend-
ence." IL was however not only too late, the
wrong policy having been already initiated, but
was IN itself an assumption Of unwarrlnted
power. The shrewd natives understood too well
the course Of events to come, ard that their rights
as n people had been disrcSardcd, and the result
has been a perpetual antagonism between the pa
ksAa (foreigner), and the maori.
The two separate sOyeTcignties in the same
country being thus established, -that OF the ma
tives over certain territory. and Of the British
Crown over n certain part.-the British Govern
ment forbade the purchase Of lands from the ma
tives by private individuals, and reserved to it,
self the right OF purchase. The land was bought
of the native chiefs in whole districts ut u time,
over which the power Of the natives was there
after wholly forbidden. 81 the sale Of land in
their minds was associated with the lose of power.
The native chiefs realized this, and finally formed
n combination refusing to cell any more land,
furnishing with death any one OF their number
who disposed of his territory. They also refused
to permit any foreign roads to be made through
their districts. The result has been u perpetual
antagonism Of interest, Observation-Disclosures. and
finally ending in lOng-continued wars, which have
characterized Colonial history in New Zealand.
Barbarism and self-prcseryatiOn have been more
or less allied by necessity, and TO yield tothe for
eigner has been simply suicidal on the part of the
native. So far from the Maori being unfit for
selfgovernment, as alleged, it is their own indie
pendence and jealousy for their own rights that
have kept them aloof from the white man, and in
that unaiucated state 50 deplored in the article
IN question.
Here the case has been totally different. The
foreigners, in the first place, appreciating the
benefits of n united government Of the whole
group, assisted Kamehameha j. in his war of
subjugation, and thencerorth fully acknowledged
the sovereignty of the Hawaiians. The exertions
of foreign residents who have been first friendly
to the government, and, through the appreciation
OF the chiefs, have been admitted TO n share in
their councils, have been in past years directed
towards investing the natives with certain rights
IN their lands, and In developing their iaassof
political rights by coneientiQasfy regarding those
rights. Cooperation IN the government and an
equal .5Oung in the ownership of land have been
the fundamental principles which have established
the harmonious intercourse of foreigners and ma
tives. That the missionaries and the most influ-
entail American residents were thorough-going
republicans has added not a little to the stability
and progress Of the Hawaiian Government. Their
republican principles taught them to recognize
the rights OF n people Of a different race to that
style Of government which that people chose to
maintain. That thorough respect for the equal
rights Of mankind has, In this instance, proved
the mOst powerful ally TO that monarchy which
was the most advantageous style Of government
for the people ~ they were. Aud yet, strange
enough, the present Hawaiian Constitution il
scrupuIOus to eliminate the word . equal from
Its preamble, and thus deny the very principle,
the acknowledgment Of which has been hitherto
the salvation Of this people. Had the foreigner
and native met tbus in New Zealand, the status
OF the Maori would now have been more nearly
what that Of the Hawaiian now Is.
Another thing may be mentioned. The mis-
sionarics 20 New Zealand were very many of them
overbearing and reserved, seldom assOciating with
their people, save wien the latter came 10 rcli-
gious services. The Wesleyans seem to have been
an exception. This fact has, doubtless, had its
retardins influence upon the civilization of that
people, for the fIst thing to be done in ciyilizing
n people is to gain their confidence and operate
ON them through the affections.
That the HaWaiians were united a. n nation
instead Of being under different independent
chiefs rs in New Zealand, has been one very great
advantage ON their part. But this fact. 1t must
be remembered, was the result of foreign advice
and suggestion. That the food of this nation has
been of n more nutritious nature than that of
New Zealand, is doubtless an element Of adyan-
tage. In the latter country the kunHGra, sweet
potato, was the staple article of food, being much
inferior to the taro as 4 means of subsistence.
WI. I.-o-o- - rrv rni-pd and used by the
natives there in considerable quantities. The
natives OF New Zealand, too, had descended to
cannibalism during the years previous to their
discovery by foreignes,-a depth to which the
Hawaiians never reached,-and the faint of this