Young Maori action group

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32566, 27 March 1971, Page 20

Young Maori action group

The South Island’s first young Maori action group, Nga Tamatoa Tuatoru, was formed in Christchurch this week. It has called on the Government to resign because of what is calls the Government’s ignorance of the needs of the Maori people.

Specialised assistance was also needed in South Island secondary schools for young Maori and Polynesian pupils, recently urbanised. Too many of these pupils were dropping out of the system, Mr Nia said.

Mr Nia commended the appointment of the South Island’s first full-time lecturer in Maori studies at the secondary division of the Christchurch Teachers’ College but said that the effects of this appointment would not be felt for some years. The Nga Tamatoa Tuatoru group has labelled the recent wage stabilisation legislation as discriminatory. “This is so because 80 per cent of the Maori people have been forced into semi-skilled and unskilled occupations by a discriminating white society. It is these categories that will be most affected by this legislation.’ Commenting on the assistance given by the Government to European immigrants, Nga Tamatoa Tuatoru said that no similar provision existed for Polynesians.

The police are also criticised by Nga Tamatoa Tuatoru.

The Christchurch group, established by more than 30

Maori and Polynesian people between the ages of 18 and 25, has made it clear that one of its main purposes would be to act as a pressure group.