LOYALTY OF THE MAORIS

Evening Post, Volume XCV, Issue 43, 19 February 1918, Page 7

LOYALTY OF THE MAORIS

70 THE EDITOR.

Sir,—l crave a portion of your space to air a grievance that is rankling in my fellow-countrymen's breasts. In your issue of this day week the following portion of a paragraph appeared: "It was stated to a Christchurch Press reporter by an official that the public works requirements are more affected by the shortage of labour in the South Island than in the North Island. In the North Island, for , instance, thero is no big harvest to garner, and when British labour is hard to get there is always available a good supply of Maori and Austrian workers."

Sir, as a native of the Dominion, though probably not as sunburnt as some, I must enter an emphatic protest at the linking- of the Maori and 1 the Austrian together in any form, let alone the above connection. The Maori, a® is well known, is undoubtedly the most loyal coloured race in the world to the British Crown. In speaking to my friend Joe Winira (a lineal descendant of the great fighting chief Te Bauparaha) of the coup, ling of the names of the two peoples, he at once performed a. Maori dance of disgust, and said: "If we are on the same footing as Austrians, why is my race conscripted? Many of my people have bled and. died to uphold the honour of the Union Jack. Are we likely to be interned on Somes. Island or elsewhere? My people have read the paragraph and are hurt. liiave been approached on all hands to enter a disclaimer. What can I do? I take it as a gratuitous insult for my race to be coupled with the Austrian gum-diggers, after all that we have done."

Sir, the Maori race has many qualities that our own race could emulate with advantage : hospitality, kindliness of heart, love for one another, and many other attributes pertaining to a noble race. My own existence to-day is due to the timely protection of a Maori woman (a chief's wife); consequently' I shall always subscribe myself a lover of the Maoris.—l am, etc., H. A. W. M'KENZIE, 18th February.