DRINKING AMONG MAORIS

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27992, 12 June 1956, Page 11

DRINKING AMONG MAORIS

WARDEN REPORTS ON INSPECTION

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, June 11. Mr Peter James Campbell, the first warden appointed in Wellington for the Maori people under the Maori Social, Economic and Advancement Act, 1951, reported to the Ponekc Tribal Committee yesterday on his initial inspection of Wellington hotels in pursuance of his powers under that legislation. . Mr Campbell said he visited 10 hotels on Saturday afternoon. He found that Maori women outnumbered men. The behaviour on the whole was good, though he had to interfere in one dispute. Four Maoris who were under age were requested to leave one licensed premises and at once complied. “It is not so easy to detect the age of young women, what with lipstick and make-up,” said Mr Campbell, “but where I see girls who have no right to be there, I will act in the same manner.” . , On the whole he had been received in a most co-operative manner both by licensees and by Maori customers. “I assured them that my intention was to act in a fatherly manner towards the young people,” he said. “I am not a policeman.” He added that he believed the answer to the liquor problem so far as Maoris were concerned was total abstinence.