MAORIS AND THE WAR

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24837, 10 February 1942, Page 4

MAORIS AND THE WAR

LOYALTY To' GROWN REAFFIRMED J (P.A.) WHANGAREI, Feb. 9. Three thousand members of the Maori race, representing every tribe from Spirits Bay, in the northernmost part of New Zealand, to Auckland, met at Kaikohe yesterday to give a reception to a detachment of Maori troops stationed somewhere in the north and to honour members of the race who have fallen in battle overseas. The Minister of Native Affairs, Mr P K. Paikea, delivered a 'message from the Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, on behalf of the Government, in which he said: -

“The MaoMs’ voluntary service in this war, as in the last, gives a crowning touch to the sense of citizenship within the British Commonwealth, and proves that their hereditary fighting qualities are as strong as ever when danger calls. With the foe at our very door, the two races may be faced with the actual task of repelling the enemy. When that day comes we have full confidence that those lads who \ have fought so valiently in foreign lands, pakeha as well as Maori, will stand shoulder to shoulder to defend their native land.” At a subsequent dinner the Maoris’ loyalty to the' Crown was reaffirmed, a 100 per cent, war effort in man-power and production being guaranteed. CHILDREN’S GIFT CANTEEN ARRIVAL IN THE FIELD (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Feb. 9. Before they went into action in Libya in December members of the Maori Battalion had the opportunity of seeing the mobile canteen presented to them by the Maori school children. To enable this to be done the canteen, in charge of Mr H. W. Shove, Y.M.CA. Commissioner, was driven' across the desert. Three days were occupied on the trip and it was necessary at one stage to skirt the enemy lines. Part of the journey was done without escort and part with an escort of armoured vehicles. This information is given in reports sent to the National Patriotic Fund Board by its Commissioner, Lieutenantcolonel F. Waite. The whole of one evening was spent distributing gifts from the people of New Zealand to the Maoris. The padre, Mr Harawera, told Mr Shove how deeply moved the Maoris were at the sight of the vehicle which had been sent to them with the warm wishes of members of their own race. When the battalion moved to, a new position the canteen was driven back to the base to await the time when the commanding officer thought it advisable to attach the vehicle permanently to the battalion. Arrangements were made for the servicing of the Maoris with comforts until then by the Y.M.C.A. secretary with one of the Patriotic Board station wagons drawing supplies from one of the trucks with the brigade. The Maori canteen was one of five gift mobile canteens sent from the Dominion.