THE BARBER'S BAN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19809, 2 December 1927, Page 13

THE BARBER'S BAN.

COMPLAINT BY MAORIS. DRAWING THE "COLOUR LINE." Maori residents of Auckland learned recently that they are "coloured gentlemen" in the eyes of a city hairdressing saloon-keeper who has drawn the colour line to these fine limits. Ihp first hint that the embargo extended to the native race came early last month, when the Akarana Maori* Association received a complaint supported by s hairdressing saloon appointment card The secretary of the association accord I ingly wrote to thu proprietor of the estaLr I lishinent as follows;—"We would bd I much favoured if you would stato ex | plicitly what your term salon' connotes. It should be quits nn- | necessary to inform you that the Maoris have some of the finest gentlemen in the | world in their race. I am taking the liberty to suggest y that your salon is open only by appointment, or after receipt of an appointment card. In other words, nobody is admitted without producing an appointment card. If this in so, someone has misjudged your business capacity and placed you in an invjdious atmosphere of misplaced criticism. < "Some of our members hold very responsible positions in Auckland; some are personal friends of the Prime Minister ; others have conversed with the Governor-General; others have dined i with the archbishop. Further, some of our members have European names, and in your promiscuous distribution of cards it is a certainty that some will receive cards from you. You will agree that it would be most degrading for one of our members to be refused attention after receiving your very polite solicitation. "The high-class New sealander is not ashamed of his Maori brother and both brown and white know that Maori and European gentlemen differ only in colour, which should make no more difference in reciprocity than different colours of clothing. I sincerely hope that your views and mine are mutual." On November 15 the proprietor of the saloon replied:—"l have always excluded all coloui-ec? gontlemen from my saloons since starting business in Auckland nine years ago. The new saloon is conducted on similar lines." The situation was discussed again at the meeting of the Akarana Maori Association last evening, when members alternated between indignation at their exclusion and amusement at their classification as "coloured gentlemen." Tbft secretary was instructed to reply regretting that the saloon proprietor did not appreciate the fine effort of the Maori to equalise his social status witli that ox the European. It was also decided to state that the association considered that the quality of whiteness was not an essential to a 'gentleman. The draft letter concluded with the query:—"Why should a barber sell tobacco to a Maori, but refuse to cut his hair or shave his whiskers ?"