THE MAORI RACE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 269, 13 November 1935, Page 20

THE MAORI RACE.

'POPULATION INCREASE

LAND DIMINISHES.

THE NEED OF THE HOUR. (By J.C.) For several years past the Maori and half-caste population of New Zealand has been increasing at a greater rate than the all-white. The latest estimate, as published by the Government Statistician, is 75,420 people of predominantly Maori blood. At the census of 1920 the native population was returned at 03,070, an increase of 18,000 on the estimate made 25 years previously. Sixteen years ago an investigation made as to tho proportion of white Wood in tlio native population showed that it was about 50 per cent, and it was considered that tho pakeha ratio would increase. Tho failing birtli rate of the pakeha in the last few years has not been copied by tto Maori. It is very apparent that the Maori community— and half-castes are chiefly to be regarded as predominantly Maori, for the mother's people usually have the stronger hold upon t'licm —is steadily advancing in importance in the New Zealand scene. Yet in the face of this increase the estate available for the Maori's subsistence is steadily diminishing.

The most vital consideration in the future of tlie Maori is the land. Land the people must have; their place is not in the cities and towns, except for a few who have losely assimilated European ways and whose children are reared iu town life. For 99 per cent the open land is his only place; they cannot live their lives in crowded towns. But the Maori has been so stripped of his hinds, both by force of arms and by purchase and by the, many devious methods of the commercial pakelia, that he has not nearly enough left 011 which to earn his living by farming. The Waikato Maoris and Iflie Taranaki people are in the worst ease, and the Arawa tribes are in almost as unfortunate a position. Now the race is increasing it is imperative that land must be found for them. Tho arbitrary Government confiscation of territory, regardless of tho future of the people, has not yet been made amends for, in spite of all that has been said and all the official inquiries that have been instituted. Taranaki and the West Coast especially is a sorrowful place for many a Maori family whose ancestral properties we 10 leased by tho Government authority to white fanners for long terms, often at ridiculously low rents. When those leases fall in the Maori land is so loaded with claims for improvements that the owner is unable to pay, and the land therefore is leased again at a next-to-nothing rent. That is the general system; tho original owner of tho native reserve is helpless. This tangled position is a curse to the Maori. I know men who despair of ever obtaining control of their own land, on which j they see tho pakeha farmer making a j comfortable living. j

More than ever now the Maoris need a strong Minister of their own, and Members of Parliament who will form a stout phalanx for native rights. Tho excellent work that Sir Apirana Ngata initiated and carried out 011 the Last Coast and began elsewhere must be extended to the whole island. The Maori must have a large area of his own lands returned to him, or more land allotted to him from the Crown estate, so much of which now lies waste. And with that need there is the need for State finance. The white farmer is never ceasing in his demands for Government assistance. The Maori is entitled to an equal measure of financial aid to establish him as a permanent settler on his own land. Unfortunately, the one strong and courageous man who was doing his best to grapple with this problem has been pushed into the background because he dared to disregard the Wellington bureaucratic methods and exercisc his own authority and discretions. He is needed now more than ever in tlie effort to settle and rehabilitate the landless and disheartened people of this race.