MAORI KING

Greymouth Evening Star, 23 April 1946, Page 3

MAORI KING

STATUTORY RECOGNITION SOUGHT . SOME TRIBES OPPOSED (P.A.) AUCKLAND, April 22. A request that King Koroki be given statutory recognition by the Government as the Maori King was made

to the Prime Minister (Mr. Fraser) at a conference of the Waikato and allied tribes at Ngaruawahia on Saturday, but in a dramatic sequel, various leaders of Maori tribes dissociated themselves from the statutory recognition request. The claim for recognition was made in a series of resolutions passed as a meeting on Friday night and supported by a long statement read by Tita Wetere, of Morrinsville, on Saturday. The Prime Minister said he conceded the right to the Maori people to say who their leader should be ; and also to adopt hereditary leadership if so desired. The Maori .people had never claimed there should be two kings exercising the same sovereignty over the same people. There could be only one king to whom all people, Maori and pakeha alike, owed allegiance. That, however, did not prevent the Maori people or any section of it from designating their leader king if they so desired. There Was a claim in the document that King Koroki was acknowledged as king and leader by practically all the Mao?;i tribes, and on that claim was based the request, for statutory recognition. That claim, said the Prime Minister, must be established and proved. There was a dramatic sequel when the Maori tribes gathered at the week-end at Turangawaerae Pa, Ngaruawahia, dissociated themselves, from the claim. Immediately after the- Ministerial party left, tribal leaders gathered and passed a vote of censure and no confidence in Wetere and his associates. ANNUAL GRANTT'O WAIKATO TRIBES (P.A.) AUCKLAND, April 22, “The present Government proposes that the Waikato and allied Maori tribes be granted £5OOO a year in perpetuity as compensation for the lands confiscated in the Maori War, and as 10 years have passed since the claims were first made the grant will be retrospective to that time,” said the Prime Minister (Mr. Fraser)., addressing a large gathering of Maoris at Ngaruawahia during the weekend - r 2 , , He said the offer meant that the Waikato tribes would receive £6OOO annually for 50 years, and thereafter £5OOO. The offer was accepted on behalf of the Maori people concerned.