MAORI AFFAIRS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19867, 15 June 1927, Page 8

MAORI AFFAIRS

Sir. —The controversy that has been going on in your columns re the compensation that the West Coast Maori people ought to receive from the Government for the loss of the Wanganui River really gets the writers nowhere. To me it seems that to waste time over

"who brought the matter up first” is futile.

There is one thing, however that does matter and it is here that the rival champions come to grips. Mr Pumipi wants compensation for the loss of the pa-tunas, etc., and he wants it paid to the chap whose front doors adjoin the said pa-tunas. If this were done, the result may be the same as that which took place when the Government paid out large sums in cash to individuals, and which was the subject of such definite condemnation by the Hon. Ngata during the recent hui at Putiki. Mr Marumaru wants the compensa-

tion too, but surely his is the better and broader outlook. As secretary to the Maori Congress, he says: Give us the compensation and give us a Board of Control, the same as you have done to the Arawa people at Rotorua, and to the Ngati-tu-wharetoa at Taupo, whose duty it will be to spend tho money wisely in the interests of the whole of the people (not a few of the people)! Personally, it seems to me that Mr Marumaru and his organisation have that end of the argument which will appeal most to the Government. PARISH PUMP. / June 14. Sir, —While there is no desire to interfere with the rights and privileges of Mr Henare Pumipi or those he represents on the river, those who have come together in order to constitute the West Coast Maori Congress are disappointed that Mr Pumipi is not prepared to join hands in a movement which has not been launched for selfish motives, but as a means of bettering the conditions of the up-river Maoris, and not the up-river Maoris alone, but the Maoris resident throughout the West Coast electorate.

For the past 18 months, members of the congress, as individuals have been investigating and corresponding with headquarters and last Easter the time had arrived for consolidating their individual efforts into an organised body. True, this body was small, but big trees from little seeds grow, and the West Coast congress is already being given heed to in its efforts to assist the Maori people who need assistance. It has been a matter for regret, therefore, that Air Pumipi, instead of doing his part to assist co-ordinate the various West Coast movements, chooses to stand aloof and throw bricks. The matter is, however, more personel than political, as those who know the position can tell.

As far as the congress itself is concerned it may be an insignificant body, but its efforts are being supported to a remarkable degree, and the platform which has been adopted is viewed appreciatively, by leaders, for example, of the Ratana movement, who, while not perhaps immediately co-operating, can now see means of deliverance from the difficulties which at present surround them. The programme was drawn up after months of careful consideration, and with the best possible guidance, and the congress arc prepared to stand or fall by it. Numbers do not count, for the achievements on tho East Coast amply indicate what can be accomplished in this respect. As for the distribution of compensation which may, or may not, be awarded for the Wanganui River, the Government will decide that, but, in view of what has transpired previously, there

seems no doubt as to how it would be allocated. It is more pleasant, therefore to anticipate, rather than to expect too much. Expressions of bitterness and antipathy will get no one anywhere, and the urgency of the matter calls for union, not disunion. This is written lost your readers should gain wrong impressions from Mr Pumipi’s letters. A MEMBER June 14.