PERPETUAL GRANT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 90, Issue 93, 23 April 1946, Page 5

PERPETUAL GRANT

£5OOO ANNUALLY TO WAIKATO MAORIS KINGSHIP ARGUMENT. (P.A.) Hamilton, April2. “The Government proposes that the Waikato and allied Maori tribes be granted £5OOO a year in .perpetuity, as compensation for lands confiscated in the Maori war, and as 10 years have passed since the claims were first made, the grant will be retrospective to that time,” said the Prime Minister, addressing a large gathering of Maoris at Ngaruawahia at the week-end. He said he offer meant that the Waikato tribes would receive £6OOO annually for 50 years and thereafter £5OOO. The offer was accepted on behalf of the Maori people concerned. A request that King Koroki be given statutory recognition by the Government as the Maori king was made to the Prime Minister at a conference of Waikato and allied tribes at Ngaruawahia on-Saturday, but in a dramatic sequel various leaders of Maori tribes dissociated themselves from statutory recognition qf the request. The claim for recognition was made in a series of resolutions passed at a meeting on Friday night and supported b; a long statement read by Tita Wetere, of Morrinsville. on Saturday. The Prime Minister said he conceded the right of the Maori people to say who their leader should be, and also to adopt hereditary leadership if they so desired. The Maori people had never claimed there should be two kings exercising the same sovereignty over the same people. There could be only one king to whom all the people, Maori and pakeha alike, owed allegiance. That, however, did not prevent the Maori people, or any section of it, from designating their leader as king if they so desired. There was a claim in the document that King Koroki was acknowledged king and leader by practically all Maori tribes, and on that claim was based a request for statutory recognition. That claim, said the Prime’Minister, must be established and proved. CLAIM REPUDIATED. There was a dramatic sequel when Maori tribes gathered at the week-end at Turangawaerae Pa, Ngaruawahia, and dissociated themselves from the claim to statutory recognition by King Koroki. An official statement released on behalf of the leaders of the Waikato, Wanganui, Taupo, Taranaki, Tauranga, Hauraki and King Country peoples stated: “The statement read by Tita Wetere did not receive the prior approval of the Maori leaders of the tribes represented at the assembly. It was the subject of debate from the commencement, to the exclusion of all otner subjects. “The discussion continued throughout Friday night, and finally a resolution was carried which was subsequently read to the meeting by Mr. Pei Jones in Maori and English and carried. At the same time Mr. Wetere’s statement was rejected as not being acceptable to the gathering owing to the form in which he proposed it. Tn particular, the paragraph asking for statutory recognition was to be deleted The* preparation of the statement and the reading of it in the English language prevented assembled Maoris from really appreciating its significance and purport. Despite general opposition to that portion of the statement, Mr. Wetere persisted and that precipitated a situation which will have repercussions throughout Maoridom.’’ Immediately after the Ministerial party left, tribal leaders foregathered and passed a vote of censure and no confidence in Mr. Wetere and his associates.