Maori Recruiting Officers Allege Injustices

Northern Advocate, 9 November 1939, Page 3

Maori Recruiting Officers Allege Injustices

Thoroughly dissatisfied with treatment meted out to them, Maori recruiting officers in Northland are appealing direct to the Minister of Defence for immediate remedy.

The crux of their complaint is that, although since theix* appointment on October S, they have been engaged almost exclusively in recruiting work, those of them who are not civil servants have not received a penny.

They were under the impression that they were to receive 10/- per day (less social security tax) and all reasonable expenses. Of the 12 recruiting officers appointed in No. 3 army district, three, being officers of the Native Department, are not affected. No Compensation for Five Authority has been received for the payment of four others up to October 21, the date when recruiting for the special Maori Battalion was first supposed to close, while the other five have been informed that they will not receive any compensation for their services. No mention is made of the 10 days from With the extension of Maori recruiting indefinitely, the officers are in a dilemma as to their future course of action. “Apart from limited expenditure which we were informed would be authorised, we have dipped liberally into our own pockets, expecting to use our pay to discharge taxi accounts for trip? to outlying settlements and other necessary outgoings, one officer stated this morning. “In our claims for ‘reasonable’ expenses we have not shown a quarter of what we have spent. “The rest has come from our food chests and we can ill afford to wait for the wages which are our due.”

The matter was ventilated at a meeting of recruiting officers attended at Whangarei yesterday by delegates from other centres. “Grave Injustice” Subsequently, a telegram expressing a sense of grave injustice concerning the manner in which Northland recruiting officers had been treated was forwarded to the Minister for Defence.

Mr D. W. Taylor, one of the recruiting officers, is also communicating with Messrs P. K. Paikea (Northern Maori) and E, L, Cullen (Hawke’s Bay), who were members of the Parliamentary Committee set up to consider the Maori defence effort, seeking their support.