Racial Problems

Anthropologists Honour a Famous Teacher A Look At Some Racial Problems

By the time he was eight years old Henry Devenish Skinner had become an enthusiastic collector of Maori relics

HE spent many hours surfacehunting wind-swept sites within walking distance of his home town New Plymouth in the North Eh nf New Zealand.

Young Harry’s enthusiasm was encouraged by his father, W. H.

Skinner who born in the New Plymouth settlement in 1857, grew up during the momentous years of the Maori wars, and as a young surveyor in the Lands Department saw and heard much of Maori life in his explorations of the virgin bushland and wild mountains and river country of the Taranaki coast, When he was 10, the boy was given a pony so that he was able to range further afield to gather what has been described as an array of treasures that thrilled and set the course of one of the greatest collectors New Zealand has known.

The boy’s hobby soon led him to the study of prehistory and anthropology, but in those days of 50 years ago this could hardly be the subject for a career. (It was not until 1900 that Cambridge appointed its first lecturer in this “new” subject—the famous A. C. Haddon, at £5O a year—and the only other British Empire universities teaching anthropology were Oxford and London.) Tn DpaH law 10 , So it was decided Harry should read law, and he enrolled at Victona University College, Welling l n ji- ' „ 70C fr .

Yet this man was to be come the first teacher of anthr pology in the Soirthern Hen^spher e a d * of Polynesian ethnologists There were two main reasons, for this. made into Maori prehistory during \ne in ng a wbpri oifinsf? U "sites richer C had

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fniit mv first A fraptured P moa

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bones, sind tne argillite girnieLS scrapers from Grevllle Harbour were perhaps the most notable finds I ever made.” The call could not be resisted, and as the first step towards his goal Skinner transferred his university studies from law to arts.

The second main reason for the goal’s achievement was World War I. Skinner volunteered as a private in the Otago Infantry, only to be badly wounded at Gallipoli, where he was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal, It was during his convalescence in England that Skinner was able to continue his anthropological studies, His work at Christ’s College, Cam bridge, led to his appointment as Lecturer in Ethnology at Otago University in 1919—the first such appointment in New Zealand, or anywhere else south of the equator.

Lona Associations

a ... - Q Thus we read of the birth of an anthropologist in a biographical in troduction to Anthropology in the South Seas, a collection of essays presented to Dr. H. D. Skinner on his retirement to honour his con tribution to anthropology in New Zealand. The book is edited by Dr.

J. D. Freeman, of the Australian National and Professor W. R. Geddes, of the University of Sydney.

The essays deal with a wide variety of subjects and the fact that a p contributors have been associated in some way with Dr. Skinner is a tribute to his achievements in fields ranging from archaeology to modern social anthropology, For instance> Catherine Berndt ( no ted for her work among the Aborigines) commences her Ascrip 0f Meaning in a Ceremonial context, in the Eastern Central Highlands of New Guinea; “Some years a S° as a student of Dr. Skinner Tinripdin T was introduced en— the stSdv of art rnotifs in Oceania and Eouth-East . ■ „ while W R Geddes in his F^ian Social Structure in a Period of Transition says: “I have written this essay about Fiji because [t WaS the first area in which 1 at " tempted an anthropological field study and I did so because of the Hirppt pnr n n r p* pmp n t of Dr e ncouragement o u .

Skinner. . . (Ov.n

nis essay by Professor Geddes is, ii a topical point of view, the :t interesting in the collection. author describes it as an at -3t to “aid understanding of what happening in Fiji in the belief understanding cannot worsen tuation and may help to make etter”.

Fiji Situation

. a population of 361,038 (in ) there were 153,356 native ms and 177,247 Indians. The ins own 90 per cent, of the land, rights of which are vested in r patrilineal clans. Much of r social activity is organised a kinship lines, but there have i pressures for abandoning the itional structures on the grounds i it is hampering the economic incement of the Fijians, i fact, this change is already irring with the spread of the iey economy, changes in political religious life and a movement y from kinship to local units. ; weakening of descent groups is ady producing a decline in monial activity, a basic factor laintaining an integrated society, this, Geddes writes: “Ceremonial he flower of Fijian culture, a er which blooms finely even on >or economic soil. Richer villages r not necessarily be happier tges if the economic gain is lined by undermining the basis lesthetic, dramatic and recrea al activity of the community.” et the land tenure issue is the t critical problem in the present an situation. If community en irises built on the traditional em of co-operative work are not jessful, the development of in dual enterprise may be inevit i—with revolutionary changes he social structure resulting, orresponding social problems in r Zealand are discussed by John th (A Modern Maori Comn lity) and W. D. Borrie (The m Population: A Microcosm of r ew World ). These demonstrate t acceptance of private owner ) of land and a movement away n rural activities are inevitable Maoris, who are rapidly increas in numbers.

Population Trend

he Maori population (down to 00 in 1896) shot up from 63,700 1926 to 137,200 in 1956. Since ), their birth rate has averaged ut 45 per 1,000 of population, ch, according to Borrie, is “a h figure by any known world idard, and over 75 per cent, ve the non-Maori birth rate in v Zealand”. ut even more significant has n the spectacular decline in the ori death rate, from more than ieaths per 1,000 of population in 1 to 9.4 per 1,000 in 1956, corn ed with the non-Maori rate of

What does this microcosmic analysis in New Zealand mean for the rest of the world? Certainly that the white proportion of the world population will rapidly decline if applied science and public health can keep pulling down death rates in Asia and other undeveloped l an d S For New Zealand this trend poses a stern problem. Already as more Maoris move to the towns, particularly Auckland, where it is esti-

mated they will comprise a sixth of the population by 1972, there is a growing consciousness of a racial problem. „ . . .

Though the New Zealanders have prided themselves on their treat ment of the Maoris, the two groups have in effect been segregated. Can this last or can the Maoris be assimilated into the white com munity?

These essays thus raise weighty matters which were hardly thought

if when young Harry Skinner rode nis pony to Urenui and Puke-aruhe in the quest of adzes, fish-hook ooints and other artifacts in the ; 390’s ' Perhaps some of the other essays —such as Raymond Firth’s Ritual Adzes in Tikopia, or T. Barrow’s '?ree-Standing Maori Images, or L.

Lockerbie’s From Moa-Hunter to Classic Maori in Southern New Zea land—would be nearer to his heart.

These well illustrated pieces are highly technical and original works □f particular value for the collector,

whether amateur or professional.

At first glance it might appear that these papers dominate the volume, making it one mainly for anthropologists. But closer study soon shows there is ample stimula ing information for laymen, par ticularly those in contact with

primitive societies.

Certainly J. D. Freeman’s essay on The Joe Gimlet or Siovili Cult in the Samoan Islands about the 11830’s would be entertaining for most readers.

This illustrates that the “Cargo” cults of contemporary Melanesia had their precedents in earlier Pacific history, with the natives even then “reaching out after the longed for marvels and advantages of the white man’s world”.

Joe Gimlet Cult Siovili (translated Joe Gimlet) had an estimated five or six thousand followers . . . whose faith was not destroyed even when one of his female spirit mediums, pre dicting the millenium was at hand, persuaded the Samoans to destroy the bananas, pluck out the taro plants and kill the pigs, for an abundance of food would be sent from heaven.

When after days of waiting, noth ing happened, she declared: “Jesus Christ is offended with this rabble who have come to look and laugh... he will come some other day when it pleases him.”

As for Joe Gimlet, he continued in authority, supported by his sacred book —which turned out to be an early volume of The Rambler!

Shades of Dr. Johnson. . . .

This is a lighter but still instruc tive side to a volume which makes an important contribution to the study of South Seas society, past and present. The editors have shown effectively, I think, by the arrangement of the essays, that pre history is far from being an end in ;itself.

I Dr. Skinner may have started as a collector, but his work did much to stimulate awareness of the im portance of race relationships and social change in the Pacific.

These are problems we face to day. The essays don’t provide the answers. But knowledge must be [the basis of understanding, which alone can find the way to a solu tion.—Ronald Plater.