MAORIS AND CRIME

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22513, 17 December 1947, Page 6

MAORIS AND CRIME

TODAY’S PROBLEMS

DRIFT TO THE CITIES

SPEEDED DURING WAR (By Sir Apirana Ngata.)

A good pulpit subject now is the high percentage of crimes committed by Maoris. Church people have been enjoined to do something about it, as though it were something unprecedented in the history of this country. It is not new. The percentage has always been high, and it will remain for a generation or more. If there has been a proportionate increase it is due to many reasons, which may be stated not by way of extenuation but by way of explanation. Some attempt at diagnosis may be useful, for it may narrow the field- wherein the efforts of the churches may prove beneficial.

The drift of Maoris to the cities, which was noticeable before 1940, was greatly accelerated during the war. During that period a shortage of manpower for industries concerned with the war effort was in part met by' drafts on the Maori communities, as a matter of Government policy. At the same time, 3GOO of the Maori youth, mostly from outlying villages, entered the armed services. The Maori population in boroughs and cities exceeded 10,000 at the last census- A small proportion of these were in permanent, work and enjoyed homes. The great majority were driven to makeshifts and the slums, and the contacts at that level of city society. And very much of the human material drawn from the villages was ill-prepared for such contacts. Inadequatea Preparation Further, there was very inadequate preparation made by any organisation, whether church. State or civic author-' ity, to receive such an influx; a few. belated hostels, more or less selective as to whom they catered for; some camps; a few welfare officers; and an extra church worker here and there. Man-power officers were more concerned with filling the requirements of factories, freezing works, vegetable gardens and domestic service, and less, if at all, with the accommodation in a reasonably decent way of the newcomers. . A considerable proportion of the offences charged against Maoris fall into the category of sexual. Has consideration ever been given to the. implications of a constantly increasing age of consent? The fact of biology and custom still differ as between Maori and Pakeha. Puberty matures earlier in tha one than in the other. Maori marriage customs approve, the Pakeha would say condone, early marriages. Tha raising of the age of consent has complicated the situation for the Maori* as many recent cases testify. - Charges of Vagrancy 1

Then there are charges of vagrancy. What are these but evidence of the maladjustments inevitable when ill prepared Maori youths follow tha I stream into the Pakeha centres, of population, where things are harder; for them than In their home villages? ] Of the work of the church it would ! be charitable to say that it has risen* to the occasion. In the city of Welling- 1 ton there has never been more than] one minister of the Church of England! a Maori, allotted to the needs of tha Maori population. Auckland is better. catered for because of the Wesleyan. Maori Mission. There is one minister, a Maori, of the Church of England. But, J strangely enough, he has no’place, no; hall, no place of assembly other than ’ the Pakeha. churches in which to hold services of his congregation. x In a recent broadcast the Bishop of Albany, New York, preaching at Auck- i land, said that the intelligence of man' had outstripped his character, and that? until the gap was spanned, a job in which the churches should help, there was danger of man destroying himself and his civilisation. On a smaller scale j the churches in the cities of New Zea- j land have been left behind in the tend- j ing to the flotsam of the Maori villages. / Their organisation has been outstripped badly. r •:

Reverse Movement Expected

The crime figures will probably get worse before they improve. We have not experienced yet the reverse of the drift to the cities. This will come with' a return to normal, when many. Maoris will find their services not required in industry or other town em- ; ployment, or when a set-back in. world prices and demand for food comes about. The maladjusted, .not wanted in the cities, with fires grown cold in the tribal environment, will sfrely be the source of some difficulty.Of course there is plenty of scope for . all manner of people and organisa- ’ tions. Perhaps it was necessary to state the problem statistically from the pulpits, that crusaders might take note. • It should not end there. Once more there is the call to the youth of the Maori race to go into this more difficult struggle. Fully inspired, it alone can achieve' what Pakeha organisations have failed to do and what the outstripped organisation of the churches seems powerless to cope with.