WAITANGI TREATY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23591, 27 February 1940, Page 8

WAITANGI TREATY

METHODIST CONCERN ATTITUDE OF GOVERNMENT MAORI DISSATISFACTION . [BY .TELEGRAPH' —PRESS ASSOCIATION'] DUNEDIN, Monday The need for a clear-cut statement by the Government that the provisions of the Treaty of Waitangi were still binding upon the Crown and upon the Government was stressed in a resolution passed at the Centennial conference of the Methodist Church in its session this morning. Some concern was expressed in that there appeared to he some dissatisfaction and doubt among tljo Maoris themselves, many of whom believed that the treaty was dead. The resolution, which was carried unanimously and which is to be presented to the Government by a special committee of conference,- was explained at some length by the llev. A. J. Seamer, who has spent the greater part of his life among the Maoris and who has recently retired from the position of superintendent of home and Maori missions of- the Methodist Church. The resolution was as follows: — Need for Full Inquiry

"The conference congratulates the Government upon the measure of success achieved in the Waitangi Centennial celebrations, but regrets the circumstances which prevented the Waikato, King Country and Taranaki tribes from being officially represented, and suggests that this is a suitable subject for a full inquiry. The conference notes with satisfaction the admission made bj' Ministers of the Crown that the treaty is still binding upon the conscience of the Crown and consequently upon our Parliament and Courts.

"As, however, this fact was not explicitly and clearly stated and there is much unrest among our Maori people on that''account, the conference endorses their request that a suitable summary of principles and provisions of the Treaty of Waitangi be placed upon the Statute Book. Methodist Responsibility "The conference respectfully claims the right to expi-ess itself on this question, as it is an indisputable historical fact .that our missionaries, in association with those of the Church Missionary Society, advised the acceptance and signing of the treaty and assured the Maori chiefs that the treaty would stand for all time, and would be honourably observed. "It was the great Methodist chief, Tamate Te Waka Nene, who swayed the assembly of chiefs and decided the issue. These facts not only give the conference the right to speak on the question, but also place upon it a responsibility that cannot be lightly regarded." ' NATIVE CEREMONIES PROGRAMME AT .WHAKATANE [BY TELEGRAPH —OWN WHAKATANE, Monday What. promises to be the largest Maori gathering in years' in the Bay of Plenty will take place on Saturday, March 16, when the whole of the Matatua tribe, comprising the Ngatiawa and Tulioe confederation of hapus, will combine in a demonstration and historic display in connection with Whakatane's Centennial celebrations.

In the Whakatane Domain the local Maoris will greet with action dance and chant the arrivals from Ruatoki, Te Teko 1 , Waiohou, Waimana and further inland. The gathering will form up in tribal units and march to the Pohaturoa Bock, where will be re-enacted the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi by the direct descendants of those Matatua chiefs who signed the celebrated document 100 years ago. The planting of the first kumara from the Matatua canoe will be reenacted upon the spot of red soil traditionally credited with having been brought from Hawaiki for the purpose.