Bill Criticised By Maori Council

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31363, 8 May 1967, Page 21

Bill Criticised By Maori Council

(N.2. Press Association) 1 WELLINGTON, May 5. There were already clear indications that the Maori people were reacting strongly against the Maori Affairs Amendment Bill introduced in Parliament on Wednesday by the Minister of Maori Affairs (Mr Hanan), said the secretary of the Maori Council, Mr J. Booth, today. The council was disappointed in the way the bill had been handled, said Mr Booth. The council had given its views on the Prichard report on which the bill was partly based, but many of the provisions were quite new. Mr Hanan had committed himself to them without any attempt to ascertain the feeling of any representative Maori organisation, said Mr Booth. “In recent weeks the Maori Council has offered the Gov-

ernment its active co-opera-tion in bringing Maori land into production. This offer has been studiously ignored. The Minister apparently dismisses the council as obstructive because it does not always agree with him. “His manner of introducing the bill has done much harm to the already shaky relationship between the Maori people and the Department of Maori Affairs,” said Mr Booth. “The land committee of the council will meet in Rotorua on May 13 to tiy to fathom the meaning in practical terms of this revolutionary piece of legislation,” said Mr Booth.

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