GREAT GIFT TO DOMINION

Taranaki Daily News, 22 December 1931, Page 7

GREAT GIFT TO DOMINION

ARAWA TRIBE’S GESTURE PORTION OF TRUST INCOME. REVENUE FROM FISHING RIGHTS. Rotorua, Dec. 20. A generous gesture in the country a time of difficulty was made to the Governor -General, Lord Bledisloe, by members of the Arawa tribe yesterday. 1 His- Excellency, with Lady Bledis- . loe, has spent .the past four days ’in the Rotorua district. At his request Sir Apirana Ngata, Minister of Native Affaire, accompanied him on a tour of th* various land settlement schemes for th* benefit of the Maoris between Rotorua and Gisborne on the one hand and Tauranga on the other hand. The tour •nded last evening, when the GovernorGeneral was asked to receive a deputation from the Arawa Trust Board, a body whose duty- it is- -to ■ administer the income of £6OOO paid to the Maoris of the Rotorua district as compensation to them, for their relinquishment of their fishing rights. ': The deputation, which was composed of 13 members, .all Maoris, was introduced by Sir Apirana Ngata, who expressed great gratification at the t visit, of their Excellencies to the district. Their visit, he said/ demonstrated their interest in the development of the Maori land. After the members of the deputation had been introduced, Mr. Tai Mitchell; chairman of the Arawa Trust Board, read the following document: — "To his Excellency, Lord Bledisloe, • Goyernbr/General_ of the Dominion of New Zealand, loyal and respectful greetings: We, the undersigned, members of the Arawa Trust-Board, a body corporate duly constituted by Act of Parliament, and empowered thereunder to administer on behalf of the Arawa .-tribe the annual income-'of- £6OOO, do hereby respectfully transmit to Your Excellency through the Hon. Sir Apirana Ngata, > Minister of Native Affairs, the following resolution, formally passed by the board at its meeting on the 19th day of December, 1931. “’That the Arawa District Trust Board, in order to mark the occasion of the present visit of the Governor-Gen-eral, Lord Bledisloe, to Arawa territory and its people, and mindful of his Excellency’s lead in regard to the finances of our beloved Aotearoa in her time of stress and economic difficulties, do hereby contribute- 8 per centum of the board’s annual income of £6OOO to the country’s-needs for a period of three years; and that the Paymaster-General be and is hereby authorised to retain and -pay the said. amount to .the Consolidated. Fund, annually during, the aforesaid period, commencing from the first day of April, 1932.’” ' The document. was signed by H. Tai Mitchellj'-Tl members of the board, all Maoris/ and by the secretary, also a Maori.. . In his reply the Governor-General thanked the Maoris for their self-sacri-ficing'and loyal offer.