THE MAORI BATTALION

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21603, 4 January 1945, Page 6

THE MAORI BATTALION

INTERESTING TALK EXCELLENT - SOLDIERS "Highlights of the Maori Battalion" was the title of an interesting address given to members of the Mount Eden Home Guard Association, Auckland, by Major Harawira, who served with [he original Maori Pioneer Battalion in the last war and was padre of the battalion overseas in the present confl i-ct. It was at an Anzac Day celebration of returned Maori soldiers at Rotorua in April, 1939, said Major Harawira, that the idea of encouraging Maori youth in military training and discipline was first put forward. The scheme was an immediate success, and so popular did it; become that before long; three parades each week were being held, returned soldiers acting as instructors.

When war was declared in September, the representatives of the Maori race were able to offer at once a battalion of Maori soldiers for overseas service, with the stipulation that they be used as a fighting force and commanded wherever possible by officers of their own race. So great was the response to the cal! for volunteers that frequently much embarrassment was caused, and the speaker instanced one occasion when a train from the north arrived at a mobilisation centre with 800 recruits, instead of the 600 called for. The camp medical officer was given the task-of culling out the surplus, and there was a good deal of heartburning among the rejected volunteers. They refused to be disheartened, however, and turned up again witli the next batch who reported, hoping that the fact that they had already been refused had by then been forgotten. Rivalry Between Companies

An interesting fact mentioned by Major Harawira was that recruiting is on a tribal basis, the various companies of the battalion being recruited and reinforced by men from specified tribes. Tims replacements leaving New Zealand know to which company they will be posted on arrival overseas. This method lias encouraged a friendly rivalry between Die various companies, with consequent increase in efficiency and discipline. The decision to use the Maori Battalion as a fighting unit has been amptly justified by events. Said the speaker. Wherever they have been engaged they have proved themselves excellent soldiers, and they were never happier than when they were “in the line." He quoted the story of two Maoris, eonvalscing at a base hospital, and being “put on the mat" for some small misdemeanour, who were told that “if they couldn’t behave they could go back to the line again.” That night the two disappeared, and “thumbing” a ride on a South African truck, eventually joined their company in the line. Later, when inquiries were made, they replied ingenuously that they had simply done as they were told! That was the spirit, he said, that animated the whole battalion.

Major Harawira concluded his address with an appeal for a closer understanding between pakeha and Maori returned men, and called on all ex-soldiers to get behind the R.S.A. in its light to secure justice and recognition of their claims. He emphasised the danger of splitting forces in championing the cause of the returned men and strongly urged the wisdom of putting full weight behind the R.S.A.