MAORI RACE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22392, 13 April 1936, Page 11

MAORI RACE

" FACING A CKISIS " LORD BLEDISLOE'S WARNING AN UNDISCRIMINATING REGIME [from our own correspondent] By Air Miiil LONDON. March 21 By means of the paper he read before the Royal Society of Arts, Lord Bledisloe has brought the problems of the Maoris prominently before the people 'of this country. Not only is the address well reported in the principal London papers, but the Times devotes a leading article to the subject. Viscount Elibank presided at the meeting. That ho had been selected as chairman, he said, was probably due to the fact 'that later in the year he would be going to New Zealand to preside over the conference of the Chambers of Commerce of the Empire.

Lord Bledisloe departed from usual procedure by arranging for a display of enlarged photographs of Maori people and New Zealand scenes. Added pleasure was given by the production of a number of gramophone records of Maori community singing. At intervals lantern slides of notable Maori chiefs and of photographs taken by Lord Bledisloe were thrown on the screen. " Leader and Champion " During his address, Lord Bledisloe spoke of Sir Apirana Ngata. "In view of the supreme trust reposed in their political leader and champion," he said, "his sudden downfall, coupled with the extreme sensitiveness of the native race to anything savouring of suspicion or humiliation on the part of their pakeha compatriots, has had disastrous effects, not only in retarding the 'progress of native land development, but upon the whole spirit and amour propre of a proud people, ill-versed in the constitutional methods of Western European countries, and not unmindful of past injustices. In the face, on the one hand, of widespread depression arising out of a racial inferiority complex and a deep consciousness of a lack of vision and nonappreciation of their mental outlook on the part of their white fellow countrymen, and on the other of a very real, although interrupted, renaissance (physical, spiritual and economic), the Maori people to-day stand at the parting of the ways. "Ignorance of their language, their outlook on life, their distinctive, yet worthy, ideals, and the tendency, steady, yet largely unconscious, to dragoon them into an undiscriminating regime based on the methods of Western civilisation, will inevitably eventuate in the effacement of all the nobler, self-respecting, idealistic characteristics of the race, with its typical graces and accomplishments, and in its decadence from an economic position of proud, albeit lethargic, independence to one of mendicant servility. Centenary Opportunity

"Four j T ears from now," said Lord Bledisloe, "the centenary of New Zealand as a British possession and of the execution of the Treaty of Waitangi will come to be celebrated. May it be characterised by the confident conviction of the world's finest native race that their future is assured, that their equality of status under British sovereignty is unchallenged, and, above all, that their mental arid spiritual outlook, so far as it is consistent with national progress and cultural development, is understood, recognised and catered for in national administration. It would, indeed, be deplorable if the British race who, a century ago, brought them new hope and enlightenment and saved thfm from mutual destruction, should be the unwitting instruments, through ignorance or apathy, of their despair and ultimate racial obliteration. Crisis in History

"It is because the Maori people of New Zealand —the most cultured, lawabiding, picturesque and lovable of all the native peoples of the world are passing through a serious crisis in their historv and development, and because a greater interest in and knowledge of them on the part of their fellowsubjects in Britain as well as in New Zealand are urgently needed if they are to maintain their prestige, their most alluring racial characteristics and their confident happiness, that I have made them the theme of my address to you this evening. I trust that I shall not have done so in vain." Sir -lames Parr spoke after the lecture. He told his audience of what had be«n done bv Lord and Lady Bledisloe for the Maori people, and of their gift of the* historical Waitangi site. The names of Lord and Lady Bledisloe, said the High Commissioner, would never be forgotten in New Zealand. Sir James Parr did not venture to criticise Lord Bledisloe's address, but he said there was another side to the -question. Speaking as a previous Minister of Education and Minister of Health, the High Commissioner said the Maori race was the happiest native race in the world. As for their health and education, their white brethren in New Zealand were most anxious that everything possible should be done for the welfare of the Maoris.

PASSPORTS WITHHELD BOY BANDSMEN IN ENGLAND LADS UNABLE TO SAIL [from our own correspondent] SYDNEY, April 9 The Minister of the Interior, Mr. Paterson, has withheld the issue of passports to four Australian hoys who were to join the British Empire Boys' Band in England, and has prevented them from sailing on the Balranald. Mr. Paterson took action because he was not given assurances that the boys were adequately provided for, and that they would not be exploited for entertainment purposes. Mr. A. J. Carrodus, secretary of the Department of the Interior, said the boys would be allowed to sail when proper guarantees were given on the points required by the Minister. The young performers were Charles Stanton, of Kensington; George N'icholls, of Leichhardt; Colin Croft, of Canterbury; and William Kerr, of Wagga. They were all members of the Young Australia League band and concert party which toured South Africa last year Unaware of the action taken by the Federal Government, relatives and friends of the boys who did not sail were on the wharf when the Balranald departed at noon. Mr. James McGowan, a former officer of the Young Australia League, who was to have left in charge of the four boys, stated that the application for permits was made a fortnight ago. "There is no reason why this question should not have been raised a few days afterward, instead of on the eve of sailing," he said. "No objection has been raised by the New Zealand authorities regarding Ken Maxwell, who has left Sydney in the charge of Mrs. Caten. Mrs. Croft stated that she was pre* pared to allow her son Colin to go to England with Mr. McGowan and the other boys.