MAORI & PAKEHA

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19031, 3 June 1936, Page 4

MAORI & PAKEHA

EQUALITY OF FOOTING PREMIER'S DECLARATION HOW FAR WILL IT APPLY? DISCUSSION AT TIKITIKI

When the Bt. Hon. M. J. Savage,! Prime Minister and Minister for Native Affairs, declared recently at Otaki that it is the intention of the Government to place the Maori people on exactly the same footing as the Europeans, he opened up a question which in the meantime has been debated with vigor and interest among the elders of the native race.

Some phases of the question were raised in the course of the Tikitiki hui last week-end. when the large number of influential Maoris representing the various tribes of the Eastern Maori electorate gathered there decided to ask, the Prime Minister for a conference regarding the proposed revision of legislation afteeting the native race.

The whole tenor of the discussion indicated an uncertainty on the part of the elder tribesmen as to how far ■quality is to apply to the treatment of Maoris in the early future. It was agreed by the younger people present that equality of opportunity in the industrial, and .educational worlds' was highly desirable, and in this they had the endorsement of the tribal elders. A section evidently regarded . with much satisfaction, too, the proposals of the Government with regard to the payment of relief allowances to unemployed Maoris, and allied benefits which would accrue through the level-ling-up of ,eonditionsi as between the pakeha and the Maori

Other aspects of the question were advanced, however, with considerable force, and the upshot was the decision to request the Government to define the extent of its plans for the Maori, in the hope that it will be possible to discuss them at the forthcoming hui at Waitara, when all North ■ Island tribes will be represented. ECONOMIC RESPONSIBILITY

Among the possibilities' raised by the declaration of the Native Minister is that the Maori race will be expected, at too early a stage in its development, to meet a high standard of economic responsibility. It has been argued in many quarters during recent years that the Maori is now well able to look after himself, and that he should be removed _ from thj? paternalistic control of the Maori Land Boards and like institutions; •

The functions of these institutions have been to protect the natives from exploitation, and to conserve for their use as much as possible of the. land originally owned by them. Individuals among the natives have complained that the system does not provide for the needs of the more advanced of the people, wKose progress is retarded by a policy evolved for the mass of (he Maoris. This, argument, it was pointed out at the Tikitiki hui, applies equally to the pakeha and his general legislation, j. '

Those who spoke' at the Tikitiki gathering were emphatically of the opinion that the time "ii nqt'Tripe forremoving control from the alienation of native lands. It was agreed that

many Maoris were now capable, of looking after themselves with fairly conspicuous success, in the professions and in the primary industries, but that among a people of whom a great number are as yet illiterate and quite innocent of economic training, control must continue. The point was made that quite a large number of Maoris have had little real contact with the white man's civilisation, and that if restrictions on the alienation of native lands were removed, the result would bo similar to, but more widely disastrous than that which ensued from the so-called "white-washing act" of which echoes are heard from time to time. ADVANCES TO SETTLERS

The fact that State funds for advances to settlers have not been advanced to Maori farmers in any great, measure in the past was produced in support of this contention. The elders realised that Maoris were recognised as being eligible for loans, -where they can produce the required securities, but that while funds are limited and applications are plentiful, the best Maori applications are rated lower than those of the best pakehas. This situation was accepted as inevitable, and not to bo complained of so long as it was balanced by provisions at present in force for keeping the land under Maori ownership. The most acute concern of the older people, as revealed in the further discussions, related to the success of the native settlement schemes on which Ma/jris are now established either as 'unit farmers, or as communal workers paid at low rates. The extension to the Maori people of the standard scale of wages for relief w.orks and also of sustenance allowances lias created a situation never contemplated when the settlement schemes were initiated, and in fact is believed to imperil' the whole prospect of establishing Maori farming on a stable footing.

UNIT FARMERS It was pointed out that unit farmers and communal workers of settlement schemes receive allowances and wages based on a scale which enables land to be broken in, and worked for a few years, without heavy cost. The object of this policy has been to prevent overloading the land with capital charges which will have to be met at some time in the future —possibly at a time, of economic crisis.

The native iu.nit farmers have realised that by accepting a subsistence and little more, they have increased their prospects of ultimate independence; while the communal workers on blocks not yet advanced to the unit, stage have been content, with small wages, knowing that their labour was being invested in lands to which they would have claims as unit farmers in the more advanced stage. What will be. the effect upon these natives when they find their neighbours in the open labour market qualifying for weekly wages up to £4 per week? A unit farmer milking a herd, bound to his farm for seven days a week, and moreover working long hours daily, receives perhaps £1 10s per week from the product of his labour. A q'ommunal worker may receive less. The settlement schemes cannot pay more without departing from the policy of economic development, on which the whole prospect of success is based. How will the workers be induced to continue their efforts, and resist the opportunities for greater earnings elsewhere ? On the other hand, what will became of native land ownership if the workersarc tempted from the settlement schemes? All land brought under these schemes are mortgaged to the Cr.own

is security for advances, and if native workers are not available for development or for the occupation pi unit farms, the Government will have a pretty problem to face. The love of the land, inherent in the Maori character, may furnish the answer to this problem, but a clarification of the Government's policy with regard to settlement schemes will be awaited with deep interest.