ADMINISTRATION

Te Ao Hou, June 1959, Page 22

ADMINISTRATION One of the main problems that confronted leaders in the city was to secure sufficient cohesion among the diverse groups to provide the basis for local government. The Maori community was within and yet quite apart from the social organisation of the European. It had no unity but was split up into separate groups animated by distinctive interests and conflicting kinship loyalties. Ethnic affiliations, pressures from the European, the establishment of a physical community centre helped to suggest unities but in actual practice the relationship between the groups was loose and quite informal. Maori leaders themselves regarding the phenomenon from within their own groups recognised that no solution at present could come from within any of the groups, neither could kinship relationships be made the basis for unity, as in the country districts. The framework would have to come from the outside. The opportunity was offered in the tribal committee organisation under the Maori Social and Economic Advancement Act, 1945. But, as the tribal committee organisation was designed to operate in a homogeneous kinship region, the Act, in order to be applicable to the peculiar conditions in the city, had to be adapted. Auckland was divided up into territorial divisions, and the Maori residents in each division formed their own tribal committee, whether or not they belonged to the same tribe or subtribe. In some of the divisions, though a geographic name was adopted by a tribal committee, the majority of the members did belong to a specific tribe, but in the main local residence was the dominating factor in tribal committee membership. Each tribal committee sent two delegates to the Waitemata Tribal Executive, which covers the whole of Auckland. This was usually the chairman and the secretary. In contrast to the country districts with their closer kinship grouping, the tribal executive, not the tribal committee constituent was the most important body. Frequently a tribal committee was formed for the purpose essentially of getting on to the tribal executive, and the tribal committee did not hold very many meetings. The tribal executive committee on the other hand dealt directly with European organisations in the city and with the Government through the Maori Affairs Department. The executive committee was active and strong because it had sound leadership and greater authority to get things from the Government. This greater power of the tribal executive was feared by the tribal committees and the sports and recreational organisations. The tendency under these circumstances was for the tribal executive to stand apart even from their originating and sponsoring tribal committees. The leaders in the tribal executive carried out propaganda work to try and bring the various sports and recreation organisations into the tribal committee organisation either by joining an existing tribal committee or by formally declaring itself a tribal committee for purposes of the Act. The advantages of such measures however did not appeal to many of the sports organisations because of the fear of tribal executive interference in the internal administration of the smaller groups. In effect therefore the authority of the tribal executive though recognised by law supported by the Department of Maori Affairs and acknowledged by European organisations remained rather suspended, and the majority of groups in the city continued their own independent existence. It is possible that in urban Maori communities a high degree of cohesion as visualised by leaders is neither possible in the near future nor desirable. The best that the tribal executive committee can hope to do is to nominally represent the Maori community as a whole and offer its facilities for the expression of Maori views, and its services for the diplomatic functions that may be required in the interaction with the European. In this respect then it seems immaterial whether all the groups in the city defer to the tribal organisations, in order to enable the latter to represent them. The tribal committee can still speak for the groups, and can offer its facilities to them without assuming overriding powers. “X” and “Z” have already been mentioned in connection with leadership in the kinship groupings. All of them hold high positions in the tribal executive. “X” and “Z” do this by virtue of the fact that they are civil servants, whose duties are to promote interest in tribal committee organisations, to supervise over the meetings, and to report the proceedings to the Department of Maori Affairs. They are the intermediaries between

the Maori people and the Governmnt. In addition, however, these men are genuinely interested in Maori welfare work in the city. They help people to get houses and give them advice when they come to the city. These activities on behalf of the Maori people go beyond their official duties.