STILL SACRED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 22, 27 January 1937, Page 9

STILL SACRED.

SPIRIT OF WAITANGI. ASSURANCE TO THE MAORIS. KOSPITAUTY OF THE CHIEFS. (By Telegraph.—Special to "Star.* 1 KOHUKOHU, this day. An extensive tour in the Hokianga district, to examine both native and European land development blocks, was undertaken to-day by the Minister of Lands, the Hon. F. Langstone, and officers of the Lands and Native Affairs Departments. The party started out early in the morning, and it was towards midnight when they returned to Kohnkohu. .

Cordial welcomes at native settlements were accorded the Minister in characteristic Maori fashion. Hakas of welcome and action songs were staged, and speeches were made by the tribal chiefs and interpreted. The Minister's replies were not translated into the Maori tongue. The sumptuous repasts provided at Panguru and Pawarenga, within three hours of each other, caused the Minister and members of the party to marvel at the generous hospitality of the natives. As one chief aptly put it: •'We are asking you to take kai with us, although you have had a gorge over the hill," and he pointed in the direction of the last settlement visited.

At Panguru the visitors were welcomed as "man eating monsters of the deep sea who are all mighty and repository of everything .that is sacred and holy from which kings are descended." Treaty With the Maoris. The Treaty of Waitangi was mentioned by Hone Teihi, the chief of the Panguru, who said it was an act which linked the Maori with the pakeha. The Government wa.-. given the duty of protecting th-* native* and the natives the Government.

"You have the strength to-day," he said, "and we ask you to help us to pro -ide land fcr cur yc aig people." He

added that the natives were willing to pay rates on their land, but had not the money.

The Minister said, the spirit of the Treaty of Waitangi was as sacred today as when the document was written. "We are your elder brothers," he said.

"There is nothing good enough for the pakeha that is not good enough for the Maori.

Tamaho McMath, chief of the Pawarenga natives, complained of the poor state of the Maori houses and requested permission to cut 110.000 ft of timber from the native land for building and 200.000 ft from the adjoining State forest, exclusive of kauri. Some of their houses would not last through the next winter. The mill and labour would be provided by the natives. He also asked that the 96 children of the settlement should have the same privilege of bus transport to the Convent School as the 40

children who attended the State school. Both the schools were on the settlement.

The Minister said the law of justice and common sense would be measured out to Maori and pakeha alike. If permission were given to cut timber, he desired the bush to be left on the hills. One of the great wrongs of the past had been in taking of all bush from hills. When heavy rain came the hilU were washed away in places. Floods resulted and bridges were washed away. In respect to school transport, he would consult the Minister of Education. The Mauri should not sell his land, he said. He had always held that view, and he knew something of the question, ad he had lived at Te Kuiti anil Taumarunui. He had told the natives of those places not to cell, but they took no notice, and the money went in motor cars and "booze."