Page:Overland Journey of the Governor of New Zealand.djvu/28

Rh at Pakowhai, Maketu, and elsewhere, in which the youth of the Maori race learn the language and arts of the English. As I said at Tokano the other day, there was once a time when the ancestors of the English were little more advanced in civilisation than the Maoris now are; but wise and good men arose among them, and taught them to make roads, and to build ships and houses. About the time that Hongi, the Ngapuhi chief, went to England, a Scotchman, McAdam, discovered how best to make roads, and his is the system now in use both in England and in New Zealand. You have not to make new discoveries for yourselves, but only to adopt the useful discoveries of your pakeha friends. What Poihipi said in his speech just now was correct. Each tribe can do what it likes within its own boundaries. For example: Whenever a tribe wishes to make roads, the Government will assist with money and tools; and no other tribe has any right to interfere. The Government has no desire to make roads, or other useful works, except in those districts where the Maoris willingly co-operate. You already understand the advantage of roads. A horse does not cost so much feed as a man, and yet it is eight times as strong. When you have got roads, one man with a horse and cart can carry as much corn or potatoes as eight men could carry. As there are no other points on which you wish to address me, I will now conclude. I thank you once more for the hearty welcome you have given me, and pray that peace and prosperity may flourish among you, like the everlasting green of your native forests.