NATIVE AFFAIRS COMMISSION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 4415, 8 November 1934, Page 3

NATIVE AFFAIRS COMMISSION.

LABOUR’S NO-CONFIDENCE

motion.

The report of - the Royal Commission which recently investigated the administration of the Native Affairs Department was discussed on Tuesday by the House of Representatives in' conjunction with the motion of censure against the Government, notice of which had been given the previous evening by the Leader of the Opposition, Mr • ; v M. J. Savage. In this motion Cabin'et was charged with failure to accept its collective responsibility for the state of affairs disclosed by the conimission. The Prime Minister , (Rt. Hon, G. W. Forbes) said he was bounds to accept the motion as one of no-confiience. The debate was inaugurated by Mr Savage. He cnntonded that Cabinet Ministers had a collective as weff as an individual responsibility -'in the control of all State Departments. The report of the commis,sion provided abundant evidence of the lack of co-operation between Cabinet Ministers in the administration of the various departments of State. If a Government could escape the odium which must be - attached to bungling or maladministration of a State department, by mlaking a scapegoat of one of its numbers who happened to be in immediate control, the present system was doomted, he said. Eleven members participated in the debate. The speakers included the three Maori members, Mr T. " Henare (Govt., Northern Maori), Mr T. Te Tomo (Govt., Western Ma-ori), and Mr E. T. Tiriikiatene (Ind., Southern Maori). Mr Henare and Mr Te Tomo both spoke through an interpreter, and in the course of their remarks they defended the former Native Minister, Sir Apirana Ngata.

SIR APIRANA NGATA IN

DEFENCE,

In a speech lasting one hour and 35 minutes, the former Native Minister, Sir Apirana Ngata, made a vigorous reply in the House of Representatives yesterday to the criticism of his administration by the Native Affairs Commission.. The attendance in the public galleries was much larger than usual for an afternoon sitting, and practically all members and Ministers were present in their seats. Sir Apirana expressed the view that it would have been better had the inquiry taken the form of a prosecution, for it had developed into a vicious prosecution. It would have been better had definite charges been laid, for he would have known then what he had to fight. The House was prepared to overlook waste and extravagance which took place in an orthodox way, but if it were not. done that way there was trouble. Every year the Statute Book contained legislation validating actions far more vicious than those referred to in the com,mission’s report. After referring to several specific transactions dealt with by the commission, Sir Apirana expressed his , resentment of the commission’s attack on his, the Ngatiporou tribe. That, he said, was underlying the report right through. He did not think the House need worry about the future of the Maori and pakeha races. There would always be ' differences but compromises could be effected. The Maoris had only one request to make —that was for a broadminded outlook on Native matters. Sir Apirana Ngata resumed his seat amidst applause.'