A MAORI'S COMPLAINTS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 147, 16 March 1908, Page 10

A MAORI'S COMPLAINTS.

MINISTERIAL EXPLANATION. • Regarding tho complaint ' of Wiremu Kauiki, chief of tho Waitotara tribe of natives, that Maoris are unable to obtain board and lodging when Land. Courts■ atW ellmgtori,::the Native Minister, 'iwhen .in-.-terviewod by a reporter, tan Saturday, discounted tho statements'that- had .ben p|ihlished)jAccommodatioiv under ordinary circumstances could always be found .'for tho -~ Maoris ;at certain -hotels, but':''" anyone,; whether Maori or European, was liable, on special occasions,' ; to. 1 find '. it difficult to obtain rooms. He did not: entertain seriously..-:, the-.-.suggestion to start a Maori hostelry.' at. Wellington'. Such an institution would, certainly, not "pay its ..way. it was giiito'unnecessary;; • Chief Wiremu-had drawn attention to a sum 0f.£7000, which'"Queen Victoria donated on her Diamond Jubilee, or some other historical occasion,, for the, benefit of tho. Maori race;" and he wanted to know what had been' .done with it. ..Mr. .Carroll said'-that /the sum ,was an annual grant,by the British Government. . It. had been paid -to .the,, New.' Zea-. land Government'since-the i ':time''.w i h'en the New : Zealand Government' first undertook the'responsibility of -looking ( after ! v the Maoris,, and was' a constitutional grant in .connection' with' that responsibility. . Tho sum was properly administered by the Native Department. £3000 of it was transferred, to .the Health Department annually for medicines .for the Natives, x and. for doctors/ nurses,' etcv The balance was spent in providing pensions for .some, of the old Natives, and for assistance'/'in' indigont cases/''