CANTERBURY VIEWS

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29179, 13 April 1960, Page 18

CANTERBURY VIEWS

Maoris Attack Tour Policy

Rugby Union discrimination against New Zealanders merely because of their racial descent was attacked at a meeting of Canterbury Maoris, according to a supplied statement. Representatives from Rapaki, Little River, Taumutu, Tuahiwi and Christchurch were present. The Prime Minister (Mr Nash) had evaded the real point at issue in the South African tour controversy, said a statement issued after the meeting. It said Mr Nash’s attitude “must have given fresh heart to the Rugby Union because, in a newspaper interview, the chairman (Mr C. S. Hogg) categorically said that the Rugby council’s decision on the tour would rest solely on the development of the dispute in South Africa and that the Maori issue has no bearing on the question. “In spite of the union’s ban on the selection of players of Maori descent, the teams announced by the selectors for the Easter trials include a number of such players and others who are also ‘coloured’ according to South African standards,” continued the statement.

Describing the position of these players as “invidious,” it asked if they should refuse selection in an “apartheid” team or should deny their parentage and ancestry.

“We feel that, as true New Zealanders, they will place their pride in their Maori descent and their kinship with Maoris before pride of taking placeman ‘apartheid’ team and the consequent association with a people whose recent actions have sickened the world,” the statement concluded.