THE MAORI CONGRESS.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13168, 15 July 1908, Page 6

THE MAORI CONGRESS.

The Maori Conference promoted by the Young Maori Party, which was opened in Wellington yesterday, is a very interesting gathering which, it is \ to be hoped, Trill be productive of good; results. Barring the great meeting at Iloboma on the occasion of the Royal visit, it is said to be tho most representative gathering of the native race which has been held in recent times. It was appropriate that it should be presided over by the Chief Justice, Sir R. Stout, and that Mr Ngata, tho other member of the Native Land Commission, should take a prominent part in the gathering, because on tho success of the Commission's labours to bring about a settlement of the Native land question depends to a very large extent the future well-being of the Native race. It is not sufficient to bring about an assured income for the Maoris from their lands. If there was one point clearly demonstrated in the remarkable series of papere on the Maoris which appeared in "The Press" a year or two a&o, it was that it was needful, not only for the moral salvation of the Maoris, but also for their physical preservation, that they should accept the gospel of work, and that in no better way could this be carried out than by the cultivation of their lands. It is still necessary, as his Excellency the Governor showed, to bring down the leaders of the raco from, dreams to the actualities of life. Conditions have I altered materially since the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, and tho Maoris should endeavour to make the best use of the opportunities now afforded them to share with their white brethren in

the great work of developing the rich resources of their common country. If the Conference in Wellington should bring this home to them it will amply justify tho public-spirited action of those who have worked so hard to organise it and make it a success.