MAORI DEPUTATION TO MINISTER

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21354, 22 December 1934, Page 16

MAORI DEPUTATION TO MINISTER

0 LAND SETTLEMENT SCHEMES (PP.ESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.> ROTORUA, December 21. The Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes, as Native Minister, was welcomed, in a typically Maori atmosphere this afternoon, when he met reprcsentaives of all the Maori tribes assembled for the native welcome to the Duke of Gloucester. Leaders of vhe tribes addressed the Minister, expressing the hope that he would carry on the land settlement begun by Sir Apirana Ngata. Mr Forbes assured them that he had the welfare of the Maori people at heart, and that he would do his best to carry on the schemes. A memorial was presented requesting that long-standing claims and grievances as to the confiscation of land he brought to completion if possible, and that steps be taken fittingly to celebrate the centenary of Waitangi. A suggestion was made that the Government invite the Duke f.nd Duchess of Kent to visit the Dominion and open the carved Ilaori meeting house now being erected at Waitangi.

A request was also made for the appointment of a Maori to the Legislative Council to replace the late Mr Wirernu Rikihana. The Minister arranged for a visit to the various tribes on their maraes to discuss affairs.

hearts as unfit for this season of goodwill, the peace arrives. He who seeks peace does not find it. He who gives peace finds it returning to him again. "Cannot we make that our aim at this Christmas season. Many a man, as he thinks of the Holy Child, will feel that his grudges and enmities are very petty things. If he casts 'hem out of his heart he will soon know a peace that passes all under- : tanding. And it is not too much 1 o expect that when the spirit of the 3'abe of Bethlehem lays hold of the hearts of nations, the message of the ; n'gels will be translated into actual 5 act." The Rev. Clarence Eaton From the Rev. Clarence Eaton, President of the New Zealand Methodist Conference: "There came into the world at Christmas such joy as it had never known before. An event had occurred which made life unspeakably wealthier and happier. On the whole the Christmas season is one which .most people know how to enjoy. We try to forget the dark things of the past and to think of Ihe bright side of life. 'lt is a notable adjustment of things,' says Charles Dickens, 'that while there is an infection in disease and sorrow, there is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as good humour.' Happiness is delightfully infectious and at this season it is a duty to be glad. j "A feature of Christmas is love of the home. The world over, Christmas is the grand home festival. Its light is the light of the hearth fire, ?nd Father Christmas has little time for the bachelor's den where the children's laughter is absent. Neighbourliness is an essential note in the Christmas music, for it is the time when we have impulse to be kind, when the slate is wiped clean of grudges and we carry no old scores into 1935." The Rev. J. K. Archer From the Rev. J. K. Archer, former president of the Canterbury auxiliary of the Baptist Union of New Zealand:

"Some of us are trying to persuade our Baptist people to imitate ihe example of the children of Israel when they were travelling through ihe wilderness. It is said of them hat each night they pitched their ents towards the sun-rising. Obviously this means that they were ooking forward rather than backwards or around, and were anticipating that the darkness of the night would be followed by the coming- daylight. We, too, seem to have good reason for imagining that brighter days are dawning, and with this conviction gripping us we must work unitedly and resolutely | for human progress."