“INCLUSION OF MAORIS COULD FOSTER HATRED”

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28983, 26 August 1959, Page 15

“INCLUSION OF MAORIS COULD FOSTER HATRED”

The inclusion of Maoris in the 1960 All Black team to tour South Africa could have serious repercussions and could foster more hatred in the minds of the coloured people of South Africa, said the chairman of the North Canterbury District Annual Methodist Synod (the Rev. V. R. Jamieson). Contrary to a published statement by the Methodist Church of New Zealand, Mr Jamieson said he considered the New Zealand Rugby Union's decision an act of understanding of Africa's problems.

■‘This is a controversial issue fraught with great danger,” Mr Jamieson said. “It is not easy to discuss it without fear of being misunderstood, and what I have to say now reflects only my personal opinion and, I am sorry to say. conflicts with the published opinion of our church.

"I think the expression. ‘Should the All Blacks be all white?’ has become just a football cliche, and its reiterated use serves to aggravate the confusion of thought v, hich surrounds the controversy over the 1960 tour of South Africa by.a New Zealand football team. We all agree that normally ability should be the yardstick of selection of any team to represent New Zealand in any sport. Any Rugby team so selected will be an All Black team even though the players may be all white. The Rugby Union could have issued a private instruction to the selectors not to choose Maori players. There would then have been no controversy.

Selectors

‘•ln any field of sport the opinion which finally decides selection is that of the selectors—l expect that there has never been a selection which has been universally acceptable.

‘We have to give' the Rugby Union and its Maori Advisory Board credit for being honest and sincere—two very fine virtues.

“We have all been made aware of the opinions of those who call themselves leaders of the Maori race. After reading how much these men and women have deplored the action of the union. I have waited for them to ask for the cancellation of the Maori v. Lions match. I have come to the conclusion that they do not intend to do so.

“No pakeha is eligible to play in that match, and the Maoris do not regard it as a form of sop. Here then is a clear case of discrimination in which the Maori leaders are acquiescing, and it is discrimination against the pakeha. But then discrimination is part of the pattern of our way of life. “We expect that when a Rugby team visits New Zealand the Maoris have a right to ask for one game for which only Maoris are available for selection.

“If reports are reliable. South Africa must be a very unhappy place. Living far from it, I am opposed to the policy of apartheid. “Because of its racial policy it is the recipient of more illwill than goodwill from other nations. I believe she would like to keep whatever friends she has and I believe that New Zealand is regarded by her as a friend. If so, she needs our friendship more than ever before.

“At least the union is trying to show that it understands and accepts South Africa. But the mood of much of the current propaganda is just the opposite because it asserts that we will force our opinions on them.

"Suppose the Maoris are included. If they are entertained on the same lavish scale as the other members someone will use that evident act of discrimination to foster more hatred in the minds of the coloured people of Africa. “I yield to no-one in my respect and affection for the Maori people, out I am not prepared to foist my opinions upon the South Africans,” Mr Jamieson said. The Synod later passed a reso-

Ju tlo > n , a the statement of the Methodist Church against the exclusion of Maoris. The resolution calls ° n the New Zealand Rugby Union to reverse its decision to send a touring team from which Maoris would be excluded on racial grounds.

The Synod felt that New Zealand had held a place of leadership in race relationships which had been widely recognised, especially among coloured people in the East. The union's decision could only damage the country The controversy was “a moral issue of the first magnitude in our country,” and the Synod expressed disapproval on any discrimination in sport.