WESTERN MAORI SEAT

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 79, Issue 7138, 28 November 1949, Page 6

WESTERN MAORI SEAT

THE LABOUR CANDIDATE “NO WOMAN SHALL CAPTAIN TAINUI CANOE” The attitude of many Maoris in the Waikato to the selection of women candidates for the Western Maori seat was expressed by Princess Te Puea Herangi, of Ngaruawahia, and other leaders at a meeting of 1500 Maoris representative of the Waikato and Maniapoto tribes at Tuakau. Princess Te Puea and the other leaders said they strongly objected to a woman aspiring to captain the Tainui canoe. It was considered to be strongly opposed to the Maori tradition that a woman should be at the prow of the canoe, and as far as those present at the meeting were concerned, it was not regarded as fitting for a woman to lead a war party. In the choice of women candidates for Western Maori, the meeting thought that the Prime Minister and those responsible, including the Kauhanganui party, were not representative of the Maori, as the selection was directly contrary to all Maori tradition. It was only at the insistent request of the elders present that Princess Te Puea gave expression to her opinion. She stated that she herself had been invited to stand for Western Maori in 1946, but had declined the invitation on principle.