MAORI WELFARE OFFICERS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 67, 30 December 1946, Page 5

MAORI WELFARE OFFICERS

APPLICATIONS CALLED Preparations to implement the Maori Economic and Social Advancement Act have been carried a stage further by the calling by the Public Service Commissioner of applications from men women for appointments as welfare officers. Most of these appointees, of whom there will be 17, will be stationed at various centres in the Auckland Province, including Tauranga and Whakatane. The centres at which the welfare officers will be stationed are: Kaitaia, Broadwood, Kaikohe, Whangarei, Auckland, Hamilton, Rotorua, Te Kuiti, Tauranga, Whakatane, Gisborne, Wairoa, Hastings, Levin, Wanganui, Taumarunui, Hawera,* Wellington and Christchurch. The Act provides for the welfare officers to be appointed by the Minister of Native Affairs to membership of the Maori tribal executives. They will have wide powers of administration in their zones. It is also understood that the Maori people have elected and submitted for Ministerial approval a total of 138 tribal committees. Many more are still to be elected. These committees, which are directly elected by the people, will each send two members to the tribal executives. Preparatory work of defining and checking boundaries is well under way.