The Press WEDNESDAY. FEBRUARY 6, 1974. “New Zealand Day"

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33452, 6 February 1974, Page 10

The Press WEDNESDAY. FEBRUARY 6, 1974. “New Zealand Day"

Many readers of “ The Press ” will be able to spend more time than usual today lingering over the newspaper and drinking a third cup of breakfast tea. The addition of an extra paid holiday—the eleventh—to the calendar will probably be the most important aspect of February' 6, 1974, for most New Zealanders. Yet it is by no means clear that a “ national ” holiday was necessary; that Waitangi Day was the most appropriate day to choose; or that the name need have been changed. Each “ province ” —a political entity which has not existed for a century—already has an annual holiday. Anzac Day is an annual appreciation of national sacrifice. If a national holiday was necessary Dominion Day (September 26), once an important event (although never a holiday), might have been more appropriate as a reminder of New Zealand’s independence. A holiday which interrupts the first few days of the new school year is not a sensible choice; a Dominion Day holiday might have provided some relief in the long interval between the official Queen's Birthday holiday in June and Labour Day in October. Nevertheless, if “ New Zealand Day ” is here to stay it should, as the New Zealand Day Act passed last year stated, be “a day of commemoration ”. An extra paid holiday is not justified if it is no more than that for the great majority of New Zealanders; the day could become a time for celebration and reflection —an occasion for public debate rather than rhetoric—about the prospects and the relationship of the two peoples whose destiny was first formally linked on this date 134 years ago. At Waitangi itself today the presence of the Royal Family will lend dignity and a pageant has been arranged to display some of the elements which go to make up the New Zealand national identity. It should certainly be a day of special importance to the Maori people; it ought not to be a day for protests by that minority of Maoris who want much more to be done to implement what they believe to be meaning of the Treaty of Waitangi. If the Government carries through the policy outlined this week by the Queen in the Speech from the Throne, a major revision of the Maori Affairs Act is likely during the term of this Parliament along with restructuring of the Department of Maori and Island Affairs “to meet changing social needs ”, In particular, the Government has indicated that closer attention will be given to housing and the needs of the elderly. It ought to have been especially pleasing to all New Zealanders on Monday to learn from the Queen’s speech that additional protection is planned to stop the plunder of Maori archeological sites and the sale of Maori artifacts abroad. New Zealand Day should not be used to disparage the very great European element in this country’s heritage; it can become an occasion to stimulate more general appreciation of the Polynesian heritage which all New Zealanders should be proud to call their own.