THE LANDLESS MAORL

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 22, 27 January 1939, Page 6

THE LANDLESS MAORL

For the effort* of the Maoris at Orakei to retain their ancestral lande there has been a good deal of paMie • yatiputhy, though, ait the name tune, m> complicated have the i«»ne« become duribg the many yean' the rights and wroofs have been in dispute that very few people know how juat the Maoris' claims are. 3?ow the report of Mr. Justice Kennedy mmrna to have aet out the legal aspeet of the matter beyond doubt. The tenor of his report is that the Maoris have no right to remain any longer at Orakei. That is the legal view; but there are other considerations, based not on sympathy alone, but on the general interests of the community. It is doubtless true that once the natives have vacated the area the modern suburb of Orakei will no longer have to look over the oft-critieised "eyesore" of ramshackle houses; but what of their occupants? Where can they got Whnt con they dot The Minister of La n rift suggested in 1937 that they should not be shifted until other houses were found for them. Thnt is precisely the point. It is not enough to flnd other houses. Land must be found fa well. A landless Maori is liable to gravitate to or near the towns and become a charge on the community, or on his relatives or oe both. Landleseness, indeed, has beee oee of the results of a too-easy alieeatioa of native land in the pact No ■ttrtjr action is regard to the Orakei people which eight have the aajtw nralt should be permitted aow.