to the Imperial Parliament again. There is also a feeling amongst the natives that the treaty of Waitangi is still held good by the Imperial authorities, and they intend to bring a case before the high courts of the land to test the legality of acts contrary to the provisions of that treaty. The present and past disturbances amongst natives and Europeans have been caused through the harassing legislation passed by the various governments."

66 And what are the aims of the movement now organizing?"

THE CASE FOR THE MAORIS.

"Our first aim is to ask the New Zealand Parliament to grant to the natives a separate constitution, the main reason being that in former years and up to the present day every government has been passing experimental legislation with regard to the administration of native lands. This the natives find has been most detrimental to their interests, and therefore they consider that the time has now arrived when Parliament ought to allow them the right of making laws for the administration of their own properties. They base their right, first upon the treaty of Waitangi, and then upon the Constitution act of 1852. In the former case the Crown guarantees to the natives the full and exclusive right to their own lands. In the latter case they are given the right to establish legal government among themselves. They contend that the provisions of the treaty have been violated, and in the latter case they have not had the opportunity or the privilege of obtaining the right set forth in Clause 71. The movement was first originated by the northern natives, and also a similar movement was made by the Waikato natives and on lands about there. For merly the natives acted independently of one another, the cause being the jealousies of the chiefs amongst themselves. This jealousy has been brought under the notice of the natives throughout New Zealand as being detrimental to their aims. They are shown that the time has come to try and organize themselves into one body-in other words, to federate. By doing that they may be able to make themselves felt in the New Zealand Parliament in respect of their grievances and desires."

"And how does the movement stand now ?" "The scheme of federation has been accepted by more than half of the natives of New Zealand now, and the organization is going on steadily toward success. The result of this abandoning of jealousies has been an actual federation amongst the native tribes and chiefs. Hereditary enemies have met, and casting aside the memories of former days of bloodshed, have made compact to stand by each other for the common good. For some time I have been engaged in the work of organization, addressing meetings of the natives, negotiating with chiefs of the tribes, etc. The last meeting of the " Terunanga Ote Kotahitanga " or " Maori Parliament of the Confederation " was held at Rotorua, in the Hot Lakes District, on March 7, this year. It was a representative meeting

of chiefs of all the tribes and Hapus (or sections of tribes) named above. We had present the Hon. Mr. Tairoa, M. L. C., representing the natives of the South Island, Wi Pere, M. H. R., Ropata Te Ao, M. H. R., and myself."

THE MAORI PARLIAMENT.

"What procedure was adopted at the meeting ? Were the ancient Maori customs preserved?”

In the European style with regard to debate, and the standing orders are similar to those of the Legislative Assembly of New Zealand. While we were in session we received invitations from the Waikato chiefs to meet them and their people at Maungakawa, and place before them our views upon the proposed federation, and explain the whole scheme and motive of the organization. The following were appointed, with others, to proceed to Maungakawa: Major Kemp (one of the local chiefs who supported the British government in the war, for which service he received his title as major), Te Heu Heu Tukino, the young chief of the Taupo natives, and a man of marked ability; Pene Taui, chief of the Ngapuki,” and here Mr. Heke smiled at the chief, who was listening to our conversation with the deepest attention, Wi Pere, M. H. R. (my Parliamentary colleague), the Hon. Mr. Tairoa, M. L. C., and myself."

66

Just then we had very reluctantly to leave, for during all the time Mr. Heke was speaking he was subjected to frequent interruptions, letters, telegrams and Maori visitors following one upon the other. Outside in the hall we saw a number of respectably dressed natives, all anxiously waiting for a word with the young member. Just as we rose to leave a fine, handsome young Maori, with the air of a prince, came in, and we were introduced to Te Heu Heu, the chief of the Lake Taupo natives. Standing side by side, they formed excellent types of what may be called the new Maori "-—that is, the Maori who has been to college, and who is equipped with the traditional lore of the schools; and, in the case of Hone Heke in particular, with the historical aspects of other racial questions, the phases of great social and economic problems, with the ability to apply all the teachings of historical example to the circumstances of his own people. Toward such men as he the Maoris are looking for guidance. They know that the time is past for them to contend for their rights, as they did not so many years back, with their rifles in their hands, and that with such leaders the fight can never be hopeless. For not only has he a great mana as one of their Parliamentary representatives, but he is the grand nephew of the great Hone Heke, the fighting chief of the Ngapuhi in the Kororareka war. To real oratorical powers in both languages, and a special education, are added a personality of great charm and attractiveness, and a mind of no ordinary calibre. Bearing in mind that the object of this Maori federation of tribes is to absolutely question the whole of the legislation on Maori affairs placed upon the statutes of New Zealand since the famous treaty of

Waitangi, the British rule in New Zealand may find a constitutional and legal combat with Hone Heke and his colleagues as harassing as the former appeals to arms.

WHERE THE MAORI PARLIAMENT MET.

Maungakawa is in the King Country, and to reach it occupies the best part of two days' journey from

Te Paki o Matariki

MAUNGAKAWA, CMsulDGF, WAIKATO, NEW ZEALAND TIHEMA 81, 1894

TITLE PAGE OF OFFICIAL MAORI NEWSPAPER.

Auckland-one day by train to Cambridge, through a beautiful country swept by the noble Waikato River; the next day from Cambridge, over a steep range of hills and down the other side in the direction of Te Aroha. From the top of this range of mountains one commands a magnificent view of the valley through which the Waikato flows, and the smoke of many a distant town on the river rises in faint blue streaks over the green and fertile landscape. Upon the pinnacle of the hill stands a mansion, the country residence of a gentleman who made a fortune as a manufacturer in Russia, and who, apparently, having succeeded in effecting this very desirable object, proceeded to select a spot as far removed as possible from the scene of his com mercial triumphs. The house is worthy of its commanding situation, is of beautiful design, a park growing up around it and a garden beginning to smile in front. As we drive along the ridge and descend on the Maungakawa side a glance every now and then as we come round a curve showed the house like a matchbox in the air, or a doll's house silhoutted against the blue sky.

The descent is, in some places, exceedingly difficult, if not actually perilous. The main road toward Te Aroha was abandoned, and we pursued a side track cut straight through a dense forest - the true Maoriland forest-every tree of which is covered with green parasitic growths from its base to the tiniest twig of its topmost branches; gigantic tree

ferns-the root of which was once used by the Maoris as an edible--and supple jacks, writhing round great straight trunks towering up into the sunshine On either side brambles overhang the road, and it required a good look out to avoid contact. Then the road emerged into a fern country, mile after mile of tall fern, until at last we saw the great meeting-house of the Maori King standing on a hill amidst other hills, and the gay flag with the inscription, Mahuta, Te Kingi (Mahuta, the King), lettered upon it flying in the breeze.

66

MAORI ORATORY.

Upon the left of the meeting-house, as we drove up the hill, was an inclosed paddock, within which were half a dozen whares, one of which was the King's. All around the edges of this acre or so of inclosure were squatted Maori men and women. As we drove up the King's "talking man was standing engaged in delivering a speech. We sat down with the others on the grass and listened. A young Maori beside us, who spoke good English, translated here and there. It was a speech of welcome. After he sat down there was a silence for some time. Then one of the visiting chiefs, with whom we were sitting, rose to reply. It was Te Heu Heu, chief of the natives in the district round Lake Taupo. Advancing to the centre of the paddock and turning toward the King, he spoke slowly at first, walking a few steps between each sentence, then more rapidly, with excellent elocutionary gesture and effect. Though we understood nothing of the rapidly spoken sentences, the rhythmic musical effect of the language was very striking. The Maori is a born orator, and from what we subsequently saw, he practices carefully the laws of production (as the singers say), of gesture and of facial expression. After Te Heu Heu, our fellow traveler, Mangakahia, a chief from the Coromandel district, who, besides being an orator in his own language, possesses considerable Auency in English, made a speech.

At the conclusion of this speech a sudden sound from the outside of the inclosure caused us to look, and we saw some thirty Maori men and women, in serried ranks, coming toward us, singing in chorus and keeping step to the music. In their hands they carried small baskets woven of raupo reeds, containing kai, or food. This was the "kai dance." The leader gave out the chant in a loud voice and the chorus took it up, advancing in time meanwhile until they came opposite us. Then they placed the baskets on the ground and retired.

A MAORI MENU.

We fell to, being very hungry, and did justice to the spread. The menu was as follows: Eels, dried, fried in oil; eels, fresh, boiled in small raupo baskets; roast pig, pork chops, Maori bread, kumeras (or sweet potatoes) and the ordinary potato. These were eaten without the adventitious aids of forks or knives. One simply put forth his hand and helped himself from what was in the raupo basket and

conveyed it direct to his mouth. Tea, sweetened in the "billy," was the beverage; and taken altogether it was one of the most enjoyable meals the writers have ever partaken of, seasoned as it was with good humor, gayety, and to us, the novelty of surroundings. Later on special arrangements were made by Mangakahia and Te Rawhite, the King's secretary, to supply us with a table cloth, knives, forks and spoons, milk and butter; but the gusto of the first meal was never again approached.

It must not be understood, we learn, that this is the ordinary method of Maori life; but in this district civilization has not permeated the natives so completely as elsewhere. After lunch the company separated, going about their routine duties, while we had a good look around the settlement. A few of the visiting tribes had arrived, and all the whares were full. Besides the permanent whares, camps

were established all over the ground.

One interesting ceremony took place before lunch which would be somewhat of a novelty to a foreigner who had not seen the custom in operation before. This was a great ceremonial rubbing of noses. The visiting chiefs stood in a line close to the inclosure of the paddock, and the principal people of this pah, men and women, came along in single file and in turn shook hands, or rather clasped hands and stooped toward each other, putting their noses flat together for about fifteen seconds, then parting with a curious little sound. It cannot be said there was any actual "rubbing," but certainly ils se sont frottes le nez l'un contre l'autre. When the women came they did likewise, and two of them, relatives of the late King Tawhiao, after "bumping with the guests, returned to a boy of about fifteen, Tawhiao's youngest son, who had been long adopted by Te Heu Heu, and mourned over him with a long minor wail of evident and genuine grief.

66

A SOCIAL EVENING IN A WHARE.

noses

After tea, which was served at half-past four p.m., we were taken to a large whare puni, on the crest of a small hill overlooking the big meeting-house. Here about 350 people were gathered, reclining on mats or fern leaves, and soon the air was clouded with tobacco smoke from the pipes of men and women-for the Maori woman has cultivated this branch of new womanhood" with much success. There was no ventilation except the low door of entrance; the roof was impermeable, and there were no windows. Two small kerosene lamps shed a dim insanitary light on the proceedings. Men, women and children reclined side by side, no screens or partitions, and apparently slept thus. Conversation was general until the king's talking man rose and made a speech, referring to the forthcoming runanga, and a successful issue thereof, and this was received with great applause. Our young Maori friend, Martin, who spoke excellent English, translated it in substance. Then one of the visiting chiefs, a tall, ascetic-looking man with high cheek bones, bright, rather wild eyes and untatooed face, proposed to hold a religious service.

He proceeded to put on his spectacles and light a candle, so as to see his hymn book better. Then with excellent effect he gave out a hymn in Maori and commenced to sing. Other visiting chiefs also produced hymn books and joined in a unisonal chorus, keeping good time and tune. The visitors were all Christians, while the Maungakawa people are nearly all heathens. They regarded the good preacher, however, with some interest, while he, encouraged, warmed up and began to expound Scripture, making one picturesque comparison of the building of the ark by Noah to the launching of the proposed Maori federation. A good long sermon was the result, which was toward the end received with some skeptical laughter and murmurs, the cause, one young interpreter informed us, being a statement of the preacher that he had once died for two days, and when he revived he had forgotten the Maori language and spoke like a Pakeha." The interpreter also said the chief did, in fact, speak Maori with an English intonation.

66

When the preacher at last sat down one of the king's men rose and in a fiery speech very wisely deprecated the intermingling of politics and religion, expressing as much abhorrence at the union as the scope of the Maori language allowed. When he had lashed himself into an eloquent fury some one irrelevantly interjected a request for a song. Great laughter followed, in which the orator joined, and he at once commenced to sing a strangely wellmarked melody, the words of which, as translated to us, were that an old chief was wooing a young Maori girl, and at each of his fervid love verses a little bird on a neighboring tree said-and here the sound was imitated. The song was given in a fine bass voice, and with inimitable finesse, and was received rapturously.

HOW IT ENDED.

Very soon the preacher got another chance, and again began to expound the Scriptures, this time with better attention from his audience. He was explaining the Trinity, and was fairly on with his exposition when a negro, who had come down with one of the chiefs, entered the wharepuni and sat down. The orator at once pointed to us, to the negro and to the Maoris, then, applying the illustration of the three races of mankind and the Trinity, sat down amidst a burst of applause, drawn perhaps rather by the rapid seizure of the incident to illustrate his point than for any special application of the comparison.

Soon afterward the company began to go to sleep where they were. Children first; then the crescendo of snoring rose higher and higher, racking coughs were heard (the race is subject to pulmonary diseases, and no wonder, in the stifling whares), and the visitors sought their various camps; we to our tent, where with rugs thrown down on a good layer of dry ferns we slept, with only one nocturnal interruption-a chorus of camp dogs, who set up one united howl about two a.m., kept it up for about five minutes, and then diminuendoed into silence.

royal commissions sat, their deliberations extending over thirteen and a half years. The two New Zealand commissions of 1866 and 1880 were the shortest, lasting three months twentyfive days and three months eight days respectively, while the South Australian and the first New South Wales commission were the longest, their deliberations lasting three years eight months four days, and three years seven months two days respectively.

But Australasia is by no means the only one of the British colonies that has been exercised over the state of its civil service, for Canada, which approaches more nearly to the conditions of the Australian group than any other country in the world, has displayed at least equal interest in the question, having held no less than three royal commissions to inquire into the condition of the civil service therenamely, in 1868, 1880 and 1891; the report of the last of the three, which took a little over five months to prepare, having been singularly lucid and able. Of course, in this both Canada and Australasia have only followed the lead of the mother country, which

MR. T. LITTLEJOHN, PRESIDENT.

MR. J. H. STOREY, J. P. MR. J. ROBERTSON.

has completely revolutionized its civil service since 1853, when Sir C. E. Trevelyan and the late Lord Iddesleigh (better known as Sir Stafford Northcote) were appointed the first of the numerous royal commissions and Parliamentary committees (five in all), that have made such exhaustive inquiries into and reports on the civil service of the United Kingdom during the present reign.

CIVIL SERVICE REFORM.

The year 1853 indeed was the starting point of civil service reform, both in England and in India. In that year an act was passed which provided that the power of the Court of Directors to appoint whom

they chose as students for the Indian civil service should cease, and that all natural-born subjects of Her Majesty should be admitted to be examined. Macaulay and Lord Ashburton were the leading men on the committee appointed to draw up the regulations. The report of the committee made in the following year, in favor of open competition as the sole passport to admission into the Indian civil service, was approved, and thereupon, says Mr. Dorman B. Eaton, the standard authority on the subject of civil service reform in the United States, "the merit system, based on open competition, was for the first time put into actual practice on a large scale."