SUPPLY OF LIQUOR TO MAORIS

Dominion, Volume 38, Issue 289, 5 September 1945, Page 8

SUPPLY OF LIQUOR TO MAORIS

Lifting Restrictions Advocated

VIEWS OF AUCKLAND MAGISTRATE

The present restrictions on the supply 'of liquor to Maoris should be removed, said Mr. J. 11. Luxtord. 8.M., senior Auckland magistrate, in evidence before the Royal Commission on Licensing, m Wellington, yesterday. Individual Maoris who became intoxicated could be dealt with in the same way as pakeuas, by being subjected to prohibition orders. A policy, fatal to the well-being of the Maori people was now in force. It was the al tempt to absorb the Maori into lhe economic, industrial, commercial and social life of the country on a basis of equality of rights and responsibilities, at the same time trying to maintain the integrity of the race by keeping alive its language and traditional customs. ‘ u other words, attempting to make the Maori an equal competitor with tlie European iu the battle of life under modern conditions, but at the same time eticouraging him to retain his primordial mental outlook founded on ancient tom and superstition. The result had been a psychological clash, and the development of a racial problem. I The sooner the Maori was placed on exactly the same status as any other New Zealander the better it would be for the 'Maori and the country as a whole, said Mr. Luxford. "I hold the view that all discriminatory restrictions directed against the Maori people should be removed with one exception, the retention of the powers conferred on the council of a Maori district by the Maori Councils Act.” be added. Mr Luxford said he dealt with many cases’in Auckland against persons who were charged with aiding and assisting the commission of the offence of suppl.iin" liquor to a Maori in a proclaimed area. The basis of the charge was generally the fact that a Maori was found in possession of a bottle of beer, which he said was given to him by a pakeha whose name he did not know: it had even been based on the tact that a had been seen drinking a «’“ s n s inside a house. It was a backhanded way of going about things.