THE MAORI RACE

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVII, Issue 23215, 31 May 1945, Page 4

THE MAORI RACE

Many Problems To Be Solved Liquor Question A Minor One (N.Z.P.A.) AUCKLAND. May 30. The position of the Maori race under the existing licensing restrictions was discussed by Mr Kahi Takimoana Harawira, Maori vocational guidance officer in Auckland, when giving evidence before the Royal Commission on Licensing.

Mr Harawira said he had served with the , Maori Battalion overseas both in trie last war and the present conflict, and had worked in many districts as a minister of the Church of England. The decision at- the recent Rotorua conference of Maori representatives to press for the lifting of the present restrictions on the sale of liquor to Maoris was more concerned with destroying the discrimination between the races rather than securing the right to take liquor away from hotels. Witner: said that Maoris objected to being placed under restrictions while Pacific islanders, Chinese and Indians were free to do as they pleased. “I am afraid it is only too true that a good deal of the Social Security moneys paid out to Maoris these days is being spent on liquor,” Mr Harawira said. “I do not wish to pinpoint any one district; it is general everywhere.” To the chairman (Mr Justice Smith) he said the Maori elders had already discussed the evil with a view to finding a remedy. Among the suggestions put forward had been one that the tribal committees should be empowered to collect the benefits and administer them for the gcod of the families concerned. It had even been suggested that the principle should be applied in cases where men earning high wages were spending too much on liquor. If any finality was reached in formulating such a scheme he would notify the Commission. He did not think that a referendum on the subject of the restrictions applied to Maoris was at present advisable unless it was conducted under tribal authority. Many Maoris were as yet uneducated and therefore were not in a position to exercise their votes wisely and to their own good. They were not in a position to realise the importance of their vote in such a referendum, and might record their opinion without any real appreciation of the possible consequences. The liquor question was only a small part of the great problem that faced vhe Maori, Mr Harawira concluded Personally he would like to see the law left as it stood to-day until such time as a commission was set up to examine the whole status of the Maori embracing every social aspect.