He Maramara Korero

Kaea, Issue 2, 1 March 1980, Page 29

He Maramara Korero

NEW MAORI MAGISTRATE

Mick Brown, well-known Auckland lawyer, has been appointed a magistrate. Before his appointment there was only one Maori magistrate, Ken Mason of Papakura. Mick comes from Waimahana, and belongs to Ngati Kahu. He has been a practising barrister and solicitor for twelve years now, and before that was a teacher.

“I just want to do a good job”, he says, though he is aware that other people’s idea of a good job may differ from his. “I think it is important that there should be a few brown faces in the position. I also think that the system is far from perfect. But I’d rather operate from within than smash it down from outside. So some quarters may be nursing expectations of my performance which I won’t be able to satisfy.” He was responsible for the tribute to Harry Dansey which appears elsewhere in this issue of Te Kaea, and we hope he will be making other contributions to the magazine in the future if time permits: Mick is also Pro-Chancellor of Auckland University and a member of the panel of the Equal Rights Tribunal, so is clearly a busy man.

INSTITUTIONAL RACISM?

Two recent reports have expressed criticism of a system in which, they claim, the needs and attitudes of Maori and Pacific Island people do not receive sufficient consideration.

Reporting to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Dunedin last November, its race relations committee said: “Our institutions are ...

predominantly Pakeha in character and find difficulty in adapting to a pluralistic society, in responding to needs related to cultural differences, and in sharing power more equitably.” On the question of tougher laws and penalties to curb gang violence, the committee added: “It is our view that such approaches are

short-sighted and simplistic, and fail to take into account the extent of alienation among the young Maori that leads to the formation of gangs”. Children in State Custody, a report from the Auckland Committee on Racism and Discrimination (ACORD), goes further. Quoting the statistics of young Maori people in trouble, the report’s authors Zeta Anich and Mitzi Nairn argue that young Maori offenders are “the products of the callous and racist policies of the welfare and judicial authorities in New Zealand”.

Simultaneous with these reports come initiatives to develop judicial procedures more appropriate to the Maori situation,

PAKEHA WOMEN WARDENS “We have all got to live together, and we thought it was time we all started working togetner”, said Mrs M. Millar, secretary of the Whangarei branch of the Maori Warden’s Association. To prove the point, two Pakeha women were issued their warrants and badges as wardens in November. Mrs Joan Rosetta and Mrs

though inevitably, there are some who have seen in these ideas the creation of a new kind of institutional racism which discriminates against the Pakeha. Discussions between Justice and Maori Affairs have resulted in plans for putting young Maori offenders*not into the traditional Pakeha detention centres but into Kokiri-type centres where they may receive care and direction more suited to their needs and to the ultimate advantage of society. Hand in hand with this proposaHs the possibility of a Maori community court system. This would operate as an alternative to the magistrates’ courts and would deal primarily with minor offences. Particular attention would be paid to first offenders with a view to rehabilitation in the community.

THE WORLD BEATER SHEEP SHEARER According to the Bible, Samson lost his strength when he had his hair shorn. But Samson Te Whata is going from strength to strength in the shearing stakes. Samson is the current holder of the nine-hour world lamb shearing record, with a staggering total of 725 lambs to his credit. He broke the record at Gisborne in December.

Betty Bartlett thus became the first Pakehas to take on a job which appears until now to have been the sole preserve of people of Maori descent. Mr Tom Parore, Tai Tokerau district officer with Maori Affairs, commented that the two women have long been associated with the local Maori community; there would be no trouble in being able to relate with Maori people.

MITCHELL MISSION TO MOSCOW

Cuba, China ... whatever next? The answer is, Moscow. This time however it’s not allegations of subversion or a cultural outreach trip. The story is much simpler. Out of an estimated 25,000 contestants in TVl’s “Top Try” competition, 1,000 people got the right answers. Of those 1,000, one name was selected from a barrel.

The winner was Hamuera Mitchell, from Rotorua, whom many readers will remember from his broadcasts with Te Reo o Aotearoa. He’s now working with Maori Affairs as our information officer. But if the present international situation permits and the Moscow Olympics go ahead, then Hamuera will be taking some leave to enjoy his prize: a flight to London, a coach tour round Europe, and then on to Moscow with free tickets for the Games. Shchaslivava puti, e hoa!

Although their farm, near Kaikohe, is predominantly dairy, the Te Whata family are no strangers to the shearing game. Samson started in 1970, at the age of fifteen. By 1972 he was the Golden Shears junior champion. Two years later he was Golden Shears senior champion. As this goes to press he is preparing himself for the world ewe record.

YOUTH WANANGA Following last year’s “pilot-run”, when urban Maori youth were offered the opportunity to go to their tribal home areas to discover something of themselves, another programme of wananga was conducted during the January holidays. Nearly 4,000 young people, aged from nine to nineteen, were involved in the scheme fulltime for three weeks, while many hundreds of others were able to participate informally in the various activities. The cost of the whole nationwide programme, paid for by the Department of Maori Affairs, was $120,000. Forty-seven marae were made available, as were many schools, camps, community centres and other facilities.

Each of the districts organised its own programme, based on its own resources. The committees established to plan and run the programmes included many of the young people themselves, as well as local people who gave their time, expertise and attention freely. Activities included marae “live-ins”, rural and urban visits, educational trips, and sport and recreation. Attention was paid to developing skills in nga mahi ahuwhenua fishing, eeling, shellfish gathering, bushcraft and hunting and to tribal traditions in all their practical, spiritual and historical aspects. Workshops were run in an extraordinary range of activities poetry, shearing, disco dancing, drama, first aid, canoeing and flaxcrafts among them. Guest speakers were invited to come and pass on their knowledge, whether they were experts in whakapapa or dairy farming. Vocational guidance was also made available to those who sought it. What does it all add up to? Despite the

vagaries of the weather in many parts of the country, and the limited time of many of the adults involved, the programme went well. It has received praise from many quarters from the kids themselves, from those who were involved in helping and organising, even from the police, who are often kept busy during school holidays with waves of minor offending. There have been some detractors, of course, claiming racism and a waste of taxpayers’ money, but a programme of this kind can never be estimated in purely financial terms, neither can its emphasis on the strengths of our own people be criticised if we are to do more than pretend that this is a multiracial society, But full details of this unique and revolutionary scheme are still being assessed; the reports and evaluations are still coming in. In the next issue of Te Kaea we hope to examine the Tu Tangata youth wananga scheme more closely, with lots of pictures and interviews.

MAORI YOUNG FARMER OF THE YEAR

Forty-one years after his father’s success, Mr Raumoa Amoamo has won the Bledisloe Cup, the Ahuwhenua trophy. The Cup was presented to him and his family on Terere marae, Opotiki, at the beginning of December by Mr Duncan Maclntyre. The late Mr Fred Amoamo won the trophy in 1938, and it was on his father’s farm at Opape that Raumoa learned the rudiments of the business.

PUKETAPU GETS COLD FEET

While taking his customary early-morning swim at a Wellington pool recently, Secretary of Maori Affairs Kara Puketapu had his socks stolen. Given the weather in Wellington at the time, it can have been no fun walking to work down Lambton Quay having to cope with draughty ankles and the astonished stares of passers-by. Why anybody should want a pair of second-hand socks is beyond us, and though Kara has since bought a new pair at Woolworths, we feel that the thief might like to return his old ones. Wash them first, please.

OTAKI MAORI RACING CLUB

A new grandstand, costing $500,000, was opened at a special ceremony at Otaki Maori Racing Club in November. In a multi-denominational service representing all the churches in the district, the tapu was lifted from the new building. The Otaki Maori Racing Club is administered entirely by those of Ngati Raukawa, Te Ati Awa and Ngati Toa descent: others, Maori or Pakeha, may be given honorary membership. The club’s records start in the 1880 s, says club secretary Mr Neil Ames, but racing in the area goes back to 1868 when meetings were held at Reke Reke.