MINISTER’S DEFENCE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 77, Issue 155, 3 July 1934, Page 8

MINISTER’S DEFENCE

NATIVE EXPENDITURE | COMMISSION’S INQUIRY SIR A. NGATA’S EVIDENCE [ L’er Prtos Association. ] WELLINGTON, July 2. The Native Affairs Minister (ISi Apirana Ngata), appeared before th Commission to-day as a witness. Mr. Findlay slated that the Minis ter’s evidence was prepared in th form of a series of statements. Sir A. Ngata was sworn and pre ceeded to read the statements. In hi lirst he dealt* with- tbc appropriation for staffing in the years 1927-28 t 1933-34. In the lirst. of these yeai the appropriations for the Native D< partnient from the Consolidated Fum lor salaries was t25,61G. The iiunibe on the salary list was then 83, c whom 11 were non-peTniancnts. Th iollowing year the staff showed an in crease to 93, the increase being mad i-p wholly of non-pcrmancnts, th 27,81 I. Thu year 1921 JO. the year for which he was rcspou -ible for the O'timatcs, provision wa : made for an increase in the staff t I 109, being seven additional permai | ents and nine non-permanents. Th salaries vote was increased to £30,501 j In May, 1929, —Joseph Ward calle i lor a drastic overhaul of all depart | mental votes and the Native Depari ment estimates wore aceordino-lv rc daced by £2542, but the staffing items which were deemed to be the min niiini, were untouched. hi the year .1930-31 the staff showe< an increase to 123 and the vote fo salaries wont up to £35,761, but o this £3510 was claimed from th Native Land Settlement Account. Treasury note in May of that perjo notified that the vote allocated to th Native Department (£30,000) mus not be exceeded, and still later th ent was < ompelled to undei spend items in jts vote, including postponement of part of the Taranak compensation money. • Economy Committee i Sir A. Ngata referred to the scttiii; [ up of the Cabinet Economy Commit i tee and his being chairman, and th general situation of growing uncm ployment being further complicated b; ! 1 he. Napier earthquake disaster, th > need for more production and fo ’ seeking a more useful and pcrinancn ; solution of the unemployment probjci through land development. In th | year 1931-32 the salary portion of tin I vote for the department dropped t 1£29,571. chiefly due to the 19 per cent cut, but also a reduction in staff t' 118. This was the year of the great est expansion of land settlement activi ties, both in the Lands and Nativi I Departments. This was also the yea {>n which the Committee of Econom lists’ report made interesting Tcfcrcnci .in connection with tnc positon o every land developing activity cf th State, because of the conclusions ar rived at as to the position of thi primary industries. The Government also set up th' National Expenditure Commission, bu already the Government was seized o the. difficulties of the people who wcr called upon to pay rent and interest and relief legislation and action wci'i the order of the day. In regard to the icsourccs of man? of the Macri people who were depeu dent on rent fur their income tin position in many districts became ver; serious. The Commission should rea lise that more perhaps than any othe section of the New Zealand community at the time the Maori people wen dependent on sustenance from th< iand. As to selling it, which \ | do source of their living in other days the financial depression definitely pu that out ol tiie question. 'The Min ister said that the head office o: Native Affairs was not organised a the time for the intensive develop merit which followed 1930-32. This de vclopment almost synchronised witl the Government’s decision to effee economies. Referring to his own part, he san that it. would have been easier am more comfortable to have taken shel ter behind a board as a shock ab sorber from the compact of criticism If the present in vcstigation woub lead to a fuller understanding of thi problems, then it would not hav< ! been made in vain. I The Minister then dealt with th' I activities of the Native Depart ment with regard to the devclopmcn < f land and measures for the relief o the Maori population in relation t( the contemporary activities of othe Departments of ’ State, including th< Unemployment Board. Sir Apirana Ngata dealt with tin activities of the Native Departmen during his term as Native Minister A Proper Context I ‘- With regard to the development o: land and measures lor relief of tin Maori population, in their proper eon text of the relative contemporary ac livities of other State departments there is danger,” he. said, that witl the coiiceutratioii of this iuvcstigatioi on the Native Department only, am especially ou the Native Minister ; participation in the administration ol the alTairs of the department, its poi icv may be divorced from the propci context, and its activities and pro cecdings judged as isolated and pecu liar. In March, 1929, a section of the Waikato people under Te Buea Her angi expressed a desire to- undcitakc tli° development of land. In Apiil 1929 Mr. I’oi-bes visited the Frauklii County and the County Council made representations to him in_ conncetior with the native lauds at Waiuku, that no rales had been paid, that they were overrun with noxious weeds, anc were an eyesore and a menace i» clean fanning in the district. Legislation passed in 1928 by the previous Government enabled the necessary Heps to bo taken, which cs-tablishcd Te Puca and her Ngaruawahia colony on this land. The Laud Laws Amendment Act of 1929 provided for the development of undeveloped Crown and settlement lands. Power was given to borrow £1,060,000 in any one year for the purchase of lands for developing Ciown and settlement lands, and for making ances to tenants of undeveloped Ctowu and settlement lands. Authority was given by the Statute to write off part of the development costs prior to selection, but the land acts had not then given preference in the ballot to men engaged in the development of land. In the same session, Parliament, for the first time since the Treaty of Waitangi, recognised the principle of the State giving direct financial as-

sistance from its own funds to the development of native-owned lands by the natives for native settlement,” he said. The Minister outlined tho difficulties c-f securing suitable land for Maori development, and defended the choice of the block. H o said: —“If the Native Minister or the department erred in making such a choice as the Horohorc- block for tho commencement of the native land development schemes, they erred in company with Ihe departments and Ministers that are credited with more experience, greater wisdonz and prescience, and more ability.” The Minister said that during 193031 the course of events ano trend of policies might be followed in the reports of the native land development schemes of the Lands Department and of the Unemployment Board. During 1930-31 the native land development schemes were extended and by the end of tho year embraced 212 units at December, 1930. There was no special grant, for Maori unemployment, but before the end of the year the Unemployment Board, concerned with a great and rapil increase in the number of Maoris applying for permission to become contributors to the unemployment fund, was* in consultation with myself in regard to the problem. “Should the Native Minister and his department have resisted the driving forces of the tune, shirked their obvious responsibility to the Maori people, and failed to adapt to their difficulties the measures which other Ministers and departments wore applying to the European population?” he asked. “That was the. time when the greatest sin in administration was to (io nothing. Tho period 1931-32 saw the greatest expansion in the number of native land development schemes, with rent revenues severely redued, and in many eases no longer forthcoming. With a large army of unemployed men, with every other avenue closed through winch ' assistance to work their land might bo given, with continued low prices for produce, and in some districts with added difficulties arising from drought find loss of crops, the bulk of the Maori people had no alternative but to lean on the Native Department or scheme 5 of the I.’nemployment Board. Cost of Maori Relief 1 • Flier, is the statement of the ilepuyy chairman of the Unemployment Goa /. that at September, 1932, the cost of relief of 3009 -Maoris through schemes was a: the rate cf £166,000 a year. I was assured by individual members of the board that mc-ney expendeJ through the organisation of the Native Department was a better investment, and went further because it produced results more Hi accord with the aims of the board than that expended through its own schemes. “The pro-gramme of native land development schemes, owing to a delay in completing arrangements with the Unemployment Board, was not completed until January, 1933. Further, icvelopmcnt depended almost entirely on a sufficient grant from the board, as commitments and follow up resulting from the operations of the pievious year, if these were to be made effective, were estimated to absorb ihe allocation of new loan money from the Treasury and anticipated revenue from produce and stock. Finally, the board granted £54,000 of new money ana an amount to cover conn acts outslanding at, March 31, 1933, This matter is better discussed in connection with, tin* Macri unemployment grant. It is sufficient to note here that a detailed review of the development work carried out. on the schemes during this financial year will show that ■ t followed faithfully on the lines of ihe estimates authorised by the Native Land Settlement Board, and that where the programme on any scheme has not been fully carried out, or has broken down, it is due to the condi-tic-ns imposed by the Unemployment Board. “In connection with work commenced after October 1, 1933, and the events and changes which took place towards the end of 1933, looking back over the course of the policies and plans during the last four year.-, of the three departments mcniioned, can it be said that any one Minister, or departmental head, or board showed, during this period of .apidly-changing conditions, both internal and external, such vision or instinct as to discourage the development of land lost it accentuate the market glut which has led to depressed prices, and in turn to that condition of unemployment which forced plans and policies?” Sir Apirana Ngata said that every officer concerned with unemployment work was required to report the position of every contract. “It was necessary to ascertain precisely the actual position of expenditure and commitments and the amount available for further contracts. The unemployment branch had taken up with the officer the matter of outstanding loans during the greater part of the financial year 1932-33, and right up to the time of the Goldsmith irregularities being reported. Mr. Balneavis, who was in charge of this branch, reported progress to me from time to time, and especially repayments coming through from Goldsmith. The shock was therefore all the greater when Mr. Whitehead, acting for Goldsmith, saw me in Wellington and told me of irregularities and the falsification of vouchers, and that the repayments of loans on which satisfaction had been expressed, were apparently some of the results. I have told the rest of the story in my evidence before the Public Accounts Committee. » “I ask the commission to believe that so far as 1 was concerned. I was not a party to the-steps taken by Goldsmith, and had no knowledge of the nature of his operations on the Post Gffice. After saying that I do not, iu reviewing the events and arrangements

made in regard to the organisation of development and unemployment work, absolve myself from placing the department and myself as Minister, and the two companies with which 1 was associated, and Fenn and Goldsmith, in a position which had in it the risk of corruption and false dealing, but the decisions made at the time to relieve urgent problems were based on an absolute confidence, founded on many years’ experience, in the integrity of the two men.” Ploughing Subsidy. iDealing with the ploughing subsidy, and well-to-do Maori farmers, the Minister said that as the dairy industry had suffered from two successive droughts, the need was emphasised for cultivation on dairy farms. The Ngati Porou had been brought up to a type of fanning which, while fair enough for sheep and run cattle, was not good enough for dairy cows. He persuaded leading men and women of the tribe to visit the Bay of Plenty and Rotorua districts to see what was being done with the plough on the poorer land. The Minister said he took full responsibility for making it possible for the department and local officers to have issued fencing posts on the East Coast. He contended that as he had statutory authority to sell material upon credit for the purpose of assisting natives to farm their lands, he must necessarily have had authority to sell for the same purpose for cash. The object sought to be achieved by the legislature was the development of native farming upon proper linos. As an instrument to give effect to that policy, he acted as he did. “I sought to make a fair dis-; tribution of unemployment assistance throughout the district from Hicks Bay to Mohaka, according to circumstances and the work offering ou Maori-farmed lands,” he continued. “A complaint was made from Wairoa of discrimination, but this was due to a misconception of the position. Altogether nearly £7OOO was allocated to contracts ou farms, including those administered by the East Coast Commissioner, and development schemes, and providing for 690 men.”

The Minister dealt at length with dock purchase on the East Coast. At he conclusion he said: “I desire to

say in regard to these matters and to my own position as a member of the Ngati-Porou tribe, and one interested directly in native lands in the district, also as Parliamentary representative of the district since 1905, that it would have been a clear failure of public duty to have refrained from assisting to tho best of my ability the Maori population of this extensive area during the time of their greatest need.

“I understand that both Messrs. Jessep and Bromley have given the opinion that the Unemployment Board received excellent value for the grants administered through the Native Department,” he added. “In the district subjected to the severest criticism, that north of Gisborne, Mr. Turnbull has given evidence to the same effect. If there was criticism apart from the irregularities complained of by audit, it was rather in the direction that rates for piece-work were too low, so that the men preferred to work on Scheme 5.”

The commission adjourned until to morrow.