MAORI HOUSING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22166, 20 July 1935, Page 19

MAORI HOUSING

DEFENCE BY ARAWAS TRUST BOARD CRITICISED Resentment at the comments recently passed on Maori housing conditions in parts of the Te Puke and Rotorua districts is expressed in a statement issued by the Arawa Welfare League, which has been formed to safeguard the interests and maintain the prestige of the Arawa tribe. "If the facts as stated by Mr. Tai Mitchell, chairman of the Arawa Trust Board, concerning housing conditions, are true," comments the Arawju Welfare League, " then it clearly shows that the trust fund handled by the hoard daring'the last 12 yeans, amounting to £72,000, has been grossly, mismanaged. That fund was clearly and definitely set down to be expended for the sole benefit of members of the * Araura people, and those people whose houses are so terribly in need of repair!; are beneficiaries -of this furd. " The fact that the Arawa Trust Board has, since its inception, spent thousands of pounds in fostering other tribes who are not beneficiaries, has in the .Arawa League's opinion materially deprived the people of the full benefit for which the fund was intended." The statement added that if bousing conditions were as had as hacl been stated, then : the state of affai:rs was the direct outcome of the board's maladministration, while if the commenfc on housing was used merely as propaganda to enlist the sympathy of the Government, then the adoption of fuch a means had been carried out at, the cost of tribal reputation.