MAORIS AND WAR

Grey River Argus, 8 July 1943, Page 8

MAORIS AND WAR

Overseas Service Policy CONFERENCE OF TRIBAL COMMITTEES. P.A. GISBORNE. June 29. Many matters affecting the organisation of the Maori war effort were discussed at a conference of Maori Tribal Committees convened by Sir Apirana Ngata and. Weld at Wairoa. The conference unanimously reaffirmed the policy of voluntary enlistment for military service overseas, but pointed out that the burden of maintaining the Maori Battalion had fallen most heavily on the tribes of Rotorua, Bav of Plenty, and the East Coast to the Wairara-pa, "where the needs of the farming .industry and native land development schemes were also most pressing. The conference decided to urge the authorities to relax the limit on the number of dependents l of men going overseas, to reduce the minimum age to nineteen years, and to allow Tribal Committees to determine the relative needs of the Battalion and industry. •Strong resentment was expressed at the disregard of the Tribal Committees in deciding whether’ men who had volunteered should be accepted for service or retained in industry, i . being stated that lists of available men, which had been carefully prepared bv the Committees, had been pruned down as much as 75 per cent. The organisation set up to protect Maori interests, it was alleged, was being disregarded or flouted. The grave danger of young Maori women being drawn in to the cities was emphasised, and it was resolved that the Government be asked to .investigate the conditions under wlflcb they were working, and to consider the discontinuance of further recruitment and the return -of Maori women to their homes.