MAORI VILLAGES

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 51, 2 March 1937, Page 15

MAORI VILLAGES

ALARMING REPORTS

CONDITIONS IN THE NORTH

(By- Telegraph—Press Association.)

AUCKLAND, March 1,

Disgraceful, conditions in many Maori settlements in North Auckland were reported at a meeting of representatives of .various . groups of sociaj and reiigious workers'... among" . the Maoris. The meeting was convened by the Auckland Council of' Temperance Education. ,

Drinking was rife, large quantities of liquor, being brought into pas and drunk at tangis. arid on other social occasions, reports stated. In some districts, degeneration and immorality were assuming grave proportions. ;; Several .speakers stated that since the Department of Maori Hygiene had been removed from Auckland in 1927, proper supervision of Maori settlements had ceased to exist. The Department finally had been discontinued arid conditions in Maori settlements had' been allowed to drift irito the unsatisfactory state that now existed..' In some; districts there 'were. still Maori councils, but almost everywhere they had ceased to function. '-' > '■ Other speakers advocated; an extension of the native educational system to include adult education in association with Maori schools, and provision of suitable . playing areas,■:.such- as. tennis courts, to'encourage' healthy recreation. ■•"- ■ It was decided to ask the' Government to extend the system of education for Maoris by providing training in agriculture," manual work," domestic science, hygiene, and Native cultural pursuits, and to provide playing areas for Maori youths,- • ■ ; .. .•■."■- The meeting' also decided to bring under the notice of the Government the unsatisfactory way in which wage and sustenance payments .provided by the Government were .misspent on liquor and in other ways, and to ask that there; should be introduced, a system to prevent this waste. :; ; A deputation of representatives of various groups interested in the welfare of-,-Maoris will wait on the Minister of Native Affairs requesting that the- Department- of Maori Hygiene should be re-established as a separate department, and'that Maori councils and village .committees should be appointed under efficient supervision. ;■