SIR APIRANA NGATA

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIV, Issue 294, 9 November 1934, Page 6

SIR APIRANA NGATA

ATTITUDE ON NATIVE AFFAIRS

HELP FOR PRIME MINISTER. (By Telegraph—Special to Standard.) WELLINGTON, Nov 8. “He has done the manly thing, was the declaration of the Prime Minister (Mr Forbes) when during hm sneech on the Native Affairs Commission in the House of Representatives this afternoon, he dealt with the personal side of the matter an attitude which Sir Apirana Nga taken up. ~ , His former colleague, Mr Forbes continued, had taken the view that there was a report with reflections upon him with which he could not agree, for he had done Ins best, but he was not going to continue in his Ministerial position.

“I would have done the same myself,” said Mr Forbes, “and I honour him for it, and I want to say that while he has resigned he has made a manly offer to co-operate with me in forwarding the great work in which he is interested. It shows a fine spirit. We appreciate it and the offer is ot great advantage to this country. The people had not recognised the value of tfie work in which Sir Apirana had been engaged, suggested the Prime Minister. lie was faced with a difficult problem. He had the alternatives of creating a full department, full of checks, or going straight ahead and disregarding checking and changes of criticism. He took the latter course. His continued co-opera-tion in carrying out the great work would be of the utmost value. “He is still a leader of the Maori people; they look to him for guidance and without him that policy a very wise policy indeed —would fail. lam pleased to know lie will work and assist me in the position I occupy as Native Minister. Without him I would find it impossible to carry on the work in regard to land settlement.”

Mr Forbes remarked that he had been taken to task for the letter he had written to Sir Apirana regarding his resignation and the offer of cooperation in a matter of the greatest importance to thq Dominion. The fight which had been going on had turned attention to land settlement and the arduous work of breaking in new land. That was the objective, and the alternative was unemployment —the Unemployment Fund, with two or three days’ work a week. That was the other side. It was a crisis in which either the Unemployment Fund or land settlement was to win. It would have made a great deal of difference to this country if the unemployment side had won against land settlement. It would be His own duty to make every effort to continue settlement of the Native people on their land. That was the undoubted responsiiblity of the Government, for he felt that when this great scheme was initiated we had approached a solution of the Native problem. Losses had been made in connection with European land settlement, but that had not deterred the process.

PREMIER ATTACKED. An attack on the Prime Minister for his statement of some months ago in connection with the resignation of Sir Apirana Ngata from the Ministry was made by Mr H. G. R. Mason.

“The Prime Minister said to the Natives some time ago that they need not fear they would lose their leader,” said Mr Mason. “Now the Prime Minister has, somersaulted —has somersaulted just as he did in the case of the high exchange and some of his other somersaults. If it becomes convenient, one Minister has to walk the plank to save others. We have seen that before. Ministers have walked the p’ank to save the country. In this case the Prime Minister sees his colleague walk the plank purely to ‘save the country,’ but naturally the Minister concerned was not alone to blame —the blame is on the Government.”