WELFARE OF MAORIS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXVI, Issue 223, 3 September 1936, Page 8

WELFARE OF MAORIS

Conference Considers Health and Education

GOVERNMENT’S HELP

By Telegraph-Press Association. WELLINGTON, September 2. A conference composed of about sixty delegates called by the Government to consider questions of Maori education and health was opened in Parliament Buildings, the Minister of Education and Health, the Hon. P. Fraser, presiding.

In opening the conference, the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage, said he was particularly anxious that the welfare of the Maoris be advanced in every possible way. He expressed the opinion that the question of health could not be discussed without reference to the fundamental question of the economic conditions of the Maori race. Tho Government was prepared to undertake a great advance in this direction.

Dr. M. H. Watt, Director-General of Health, said that the Maori death rate was 19.29 per thousand, compared with 8.22 for Europeans. The only favourable point of comparison was the Maori birth rate percentage, the increase being 2.41 for Maoris and .8 for Europeans.

Referring to typhoid fever, Dr. Watt said that the benefits of inoculation had been clearly established in the control of the disease. Typhoid fever could never be eradicated from the Maori race until the sanitation of settlements and individual homes had been" improved. The high incidence of tuberculosis among Maoris was a reflex of their unsatisfactory economic position and particularly of the poor standard of their housing. Dr. Watt said that the benefits of the school dental service should be extended to Maori children.

Sir Apirana Ngata said that the fundamental problem to be faced concerned housing and sanitation, including water supply . Dr. B. Turoott said that the Maori responded excellently to educational measures, and he stressed the necessity of a colony for certain selected cases in the East Cape area. Sir Apirana, in this connection, said that the Maoris were willing to grant ten acres of land and provide sufficient finance to allow the erection of 20 hutments.

Tho conference expressed agreement and requested the extension of the Native Department’s land development schemes and the provision of medical services for Maoris, as outlined by the Health Department. The conference agreed on the necessity of adopting a housing policy for Maoris and recommended that any organisation set up should co-opt the services of the Health, Education and Native Affairs departments.

Delegates expressed uneasiness about the use being made of some of the money paid out in sustenance and other Government channels. It was agreed that practical steps should bo taken to ensure better use of moneys received.