MAORI HOUSING

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18764, 22 July 1935, Page 6

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 ov the Arawa Welfare League, which ba.s been, formed to safeguard the interests and maintain the prestige of the Arawa 1 1 ibe'-

“If the facts as stated by Mr. Tai Mitchell, chairman of the Arawa Trust Board, concerning housing conditions, are true,” comments the Arawa- Welfare League, “then it clearly shows that the. trust fund handled by the board during the last 12 years, amounting to £72.000, lias been grossly mismanaged. That, fund war. clearly and definitely set ‘down to be expended for the sole benefit of members of the Arawa people, and those people, - whose houses are so terribly in need of repairs are beneficiaries of this fund.

“The fact that the Arawa Trust Board has, since its inception, spent thousands of pounds in fostering other tribes wlio are not beneficiaries, has in .be Arawa League’s opinion materially deprived the people of the full benefit for which the fund was intended.”

The statement added that if housing conditions were as bad as had been stated, then the state of affairs was the direct outcome of the board’s maladministration, while if the comment on housing was used merely as propaganda to enlist the sympathy of the. Government, then the adoption of such a means had been carried- out at the cost of tiibal reputation.