Maori Waitangi move ‘unlikely’

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33446, 30 January 1974, Page 2

Maori Waitangi move ‘unlikely’

GVew Zealand Press Association)

AUCKLAND, January 29. Direct action by Maori groups at the New Zealand Day celebrations was highly unlikely, a spokesman from one of the groups. Te Huinga Rangatahi O Aotearoa, Mr B. McDonald, said today.

About 300 Maoris discussed their grievances at the week-end and decided what action they would take on Waitangi Day. The 300 represented Te Huinga Rangatahi O Aotearoa, Nga Kuri A Wharei, Nga Tamatoa chapters from Auckland, Wellington and Hamilton, the Polynesian Panthers, the Maori Liberation Front, the Auckland University Maori Club, Maori trade union officials, the Maori Women’s Welfare League, Te Reo Maori Society, and the People’s Union. The groups, Maori leaders and elders, and the Minister; of Maori Affairs (Mr Rata)i

will meet on February 5 at Waitangi. They will discuss “the Labour Government’s failure to pay any attention to the dissatisfaction of the Maori people over the changing of the name from Waitangi Day to New Zealand Day.” Mr McDonald said: “We call on the Government to take immediate steps to fulfil the electoral promises concerning the ratification of the principles within the Treaty of Waitangi, and to take positive and concrete steps to get the treaty recognised and acknowledged, not just in the legislative courts of .New Zealand but in international law as well.”