FRIEND OF MAORIS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 299, 18 December 1935, Page 10

FRIEND OF MAORIS.

PRIME .MINISTER'S THANKS

HELP FROM THE CLERGY,

Appreciation of tho loyalty of the Maori race was expressed by the Prime Minister, Mr. Savage, at a civic reception tendered to him at the Town Hall last evening. "I do not think I should allow this opportunity to pass without expressing my good will and heartiest thanks to m y good friends of the native race," he said. "I am not only Prime Minister, but I am Minister of Native Affairs. It will be my privilege to meet them and to wipe out whatever dividing line there may exist between the Maori and the pakclia. I want them to my word for it that we are going to treat them as liuman beings, with the same right to live in Now Zealand."

After a burst of applause, Mr. Savage said that perhaps if it came to a showdown, the Maoris would have the better right to live in New Zealand. However, they would be under his immediate care and he wanted to assure them that they had no cause to worry.

"I want also to address a few remarks to my good friends of tlie clergy," continued Mr. Savage. "They have'done a wonderful work. They had tho courage to express their knowledge of social and economic conditions in tlie country, ancl their value to New Zealand and to the welfare of the people will never be measured in money. I want, without any qualification, to express my heartfelt thanks to them, the clergy of all denominations. Perhaps thoy have not always been popular, but still, they cannot help that. Tho person who sots out to do the right thing is very often unpopular."