LIFTING AUSTRALIAN BAN ON MAORIS

Wanganui Chronicle, 8 May 1948, Page 5

LIFTING AUSTRALIAN BAN ON MAORIS

FORTUNATE FOR N.Z. IT MIGHT HAVE PUT THE GOVERNMENT OUT. (N.Z.P.A.—Copyright. j Sydney, May 7. “No wonder Mr. Cadwell had to back pedal on his Maori decision,” comments the columnist “Granny” jn the Sydney Morning Herald. ‘‘He started more trouble than he wanted. The New Zealand Government has only four more members than the Opposition and has that majority only because the four Maori constituencies all returned Labour men. “The Maoris bitterly resent any suggestion of a colour bar. There is no doubt that had Mr. Fraser failed to make Mr. Calwell change his mind the New Zealand Government might have been out on its ear. “Mr. Calwell’s narrow interpretation of the White Australia policy will have .further repercussions when the South-West Pacific Conference meets in Sydney next September. In a leader today the Sydney TelegTapK ’ charges that Mr. Calwell has produced an illogical compromise. Trt ’informing New Zealand that the rights of the Maori will be respected and that Maoris can enter Australia with the same freedom enjoyed by other New Zealanders he has admitted an exception and a compromise with the strict interpretation of the White Australia policy. The Telegraph suggests that there is now no logical answer to pleas from" Australian girls married to Negroes, Indonesians, and Malays, Australian men married to Chinese girls, or from any of the Polynesians of the Pacific who might ask for admission on the grounds that we have already extended hospitality to their racial brothers. “And if we justify discrimination against them by pointing out that the Maoris are full citizens of a sister Dominion, what are we to say to full citizens of our sister Dominions Indian and Pakistan?” asks the Telegraph.