A LONG-STANDING GRIEVANCE

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22661, 16 March 1939, Page 10

A LONG-STANDING GRIEVANCE

CLAIMS* OF NGAITAHU TRIBE APPEAL FOR PAKEHA ASSISTANCE. The settlement of the Ngaitahu claims as the most suitable centennial memorial for the Maori race and pakehas was urged by Mr E. T. Tirikatene, member for Southern Maori, at a centennial conference at Akaroa yesterday. The Maoris were indebted in many ways for the benefits introduced by the pakehas in the last 100 years, said Mr Tirikatene; but after travelling among his people he found that they still felt that some of the stones had been left unturned. A promise was made at the Akaroa pa that, under the Waitangi Treaty, reserves would be made/for the Maoris. That had been a bone of contention in the past and applications to successive governments had not brought about a settlement. He did not have the slightest doubt that the present Government would endeavour to rectify the grievance of 100 years standing. More than 20,000,000 acres of land had been bought from the Maoris for £2OOO, provision being made for the setting aside of reserves for the people and their descendants. “I ask the people of New Zealand to assist the Government to bring about a settlement and to provide perhaps the greatest memorial that the pakehas and Maoris could build—the completion of the terms of the Treaty of Waitangi,” Mr Tirikatene said. “The Maoris of this island have never raised a blow against the authority of the Government or of the Queen.” The suggestion had been made that a model Maori pa should be built at Akaroa. That would cost a good sum of money. They did not want to put up a bush stockade. Driving a few sticks into the ground, tieing them together and hammering in a few nails would not build a pa worthy of the Maori race.