THE GOVERNMENT AND THE MAORIS

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21414, 5 March 1935, Page 8

THE GOVERNMENT AND THE MAORIS

t LL ;: ?. !IF HIE I'.". ESS. ' :-avt read wit!; interest an •■The Pre:*" of Monday. .... -5 dealing with an article of . -.M;,••chester Guardian" on • V: iirs tnquiry ol last year. *' . vlia' jMithoritv ilicte . , ~n t thai ilu: Audiiordi-' no! consider licces- '■■■ ;.,,'poV:.-n-:«--nt of a Royal Com;'l :.utiiurit !■•' '-he _"Do--.vhu-k on November <> r<" in hi:- reply tu the .. .. * >j. i report, as ■ ... ■ m>u.- had stated that . *.r' o nd Auditor-General . ..i condemned tiie inactivity of the .' c . ; b"t that official had ,■ "ia-i" vcar 11933) that he did i.";'7tauirc"cn investigation by a "•■' Commission and that he was ; f .H -Vat' the necessary readjust- ; y:.',' c ., A l ia be brought about with- - (■i>i;r-'j being adopted. i v. her Air Coatee's re- ... r )Vf ci were reported in r". , i,!it no doubt they could ~ f.- u m Han.-tird. S" much • n > article. u hli'h j ■■ i - f huvt •... .i r; • „ 1 ji>tr rn"i <*>r rcltt'cl; 1 i;. a « 'he limitations ul the , ' I : .i),'!<"* prevented ni" from eli 1 -i1 more, and. ineit; ..• should be necessary . ' i, f. : away tu say what should . ' , • , t . :t . New Zealand, but can- .• i;c i: of a medium. When- , e as vim uo in your editorial. ■ a' :ec eiKjuirv and its sequel ha\ e • bucy the schemes now in operation , !u; tiie economic status of the i.- ■•m.: admit, so far as I am con,i ,ii vthin;;. "Fiat justitia, ruat I , r.:::iv be all right for courts of * m.' r-.iiph justice is the most that p.. . vpected i" the world of prac- ■ ..'.i and statesmen must often, ;:-er:!.:iU an urgent problem, to do ;.:.<eui rKjht "do a little wrong." ,5.." wa.- with Sir Apirana Ngata. have been careless about pub- . --o'hc-v in his haste to get things ■ - but it was a very "little wrong" : ■ .rj pared with the "great right" he was p..- Ips race. Compared with the ■•a:.da: o! the purchase of land for ■ ,;r -uidler settlement scheme, into 'here was never any Royal f'.'.njiiiissic.n of enquiry, nothing was 'tisciokd by the recent searching inveaigation' but "peccadilloes and :rr<.*gul«iritic;t'," as I termed them, far

.< .-.- hiti-miu! and costly, in my opinion, ':,.:.." tnc commission itself, which inner i .rek-s regarded from the first as an .■iv.j.-h 0.-i~ihe Government and, par•:ciii:irl-.. or. Ihe Minister himself — " •■•>;•nf'-- ; ;' for ,\t?ata" was the expres- , r, :i I hoard used. Well, they got :'.::ti'u. oi course, but unfortunately in ■ : .<- pro-cess of "gunning" they wiped <,..• .•: kit of other native game, an ■ ■;'.:■:■-. i winch future generations may ■ ■:,?r:ate when they have to face a M:-.ori "problem." You a.-.k lor a "thorough and compotc-::; enquiry into the present sys- *:■::; cf native land tenure, the possibil-j-.c-s 'A communal farming and other ...'kfcd problems." Surely there is i \ongh material available without, an-«.:::c-r commission. The Prime Minis- •••:■ himself, whom Canterbury must '. .o'.-.v to be a "thorough" and "com- 1 i •:-":r.t" practical farmer and a -man >-00.-i integrity is above reproach, has o.jok, in his new capacity as successor to Sir Apirana Ngata. such an enquiry. . his recent personal tour of inspec- ■■.<:'. id native land settlements, and p: n-iounced himself publicly as satis-J>.-fi. What more is wanted than to let t'.c Maori, with a reasonable amount '.:' public money, to which he is en- ■ -ko under the Treaty of Waitangi and •; i- awards of other recent commis.>:o;;s, work out, as he was doing, his • iv/n destiny under his own leaders? An.. in this effort one looks to papers . ko '•The Press" to see to it that the -\k..js; yd- a fair and square deal.— Yo.rs, ok , '.MANCHESTER GUARDIANCORRESPONDENT. t'li'jt- version of Mr Coates's statement siven by the "Dominion" fjyrees with the Hansard report of

•hat .statement. It can therefore be accepted as proven that in December, 1933, the Auditor-General did rot consider the appointment of a Royal Commission necessary. We rcicr more generally to this letter ::. a leading article.—Ed., "The