A WELCOME GESTURE.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 December 1931, Page 4

A WELCOME GESTURE.

The offer of the Arawa District Trust Board to accept a reduction of eight per cent, of the income it receives from the State is a welcome gesture. The board is the body entrusted with the administration of a sum of £6OOO paid by the State to the Maoris of the Rotorua district as compensation for the relinquishment of the fishing rights reserved for them by the Treaty of Waitangi. It is not the amount of relief afforded the Consolidated Fund, desirable though any sum in that direction will be, that alone makes the offer bo satisfactory. It is proof that the Maori in New Zealand is recognising the duties as well as the privileges of British citizenship. It .is proof also that the policy of the Dominion, for the last two generations at all events, has been justified, and that the growth of the new Maori race consciousness, which the present Native Minister (Sir Apirana Ngata) has done so much to foster, is proving worth while. Sir Apirana has always insisted that while Maori development in Western civilisation must proceed from within the race it must accept the duties as well as the privileges necessary in the accommodation of tribal methods to more complex conditions. The offer is unlike the individual acts of generosity for which the Maori has been noted throughout the history of the race. The Trust Board is acting on behalf of several tribes and it is foregoing part of its income at a time when the Maori is feeling the pinch quite as severely as his pakeha fellow citizen. That he is willing to assist the European community, and to do so voluntarily, is a tribute to the policy of regarding him as of equal status. The Maori contingents that fought in the Great War proved the devotion of the race to the Union Jack. Combined with that, however, was the element of adventure, which appealed to a race that had loved fighting for its, own sake. But in relinquishing hard cash there is no excitement or emotion to kindle fervour. It is a plain, businesslike offer to do a little towards assisting the country in a time of stress. Such action is a real expression of loyalty and speaks plainer than much eloquence.