WILL THE LEAGUE STAND ON ITS OWN FEET?

Te Ao Hou, December 1959, Page 59

The Rt. Hon. Walter Nash and the Dominion President, Mrs Miria Logan, at the Maori Women Welfare League's conference at Napier last April. (Napier Daily Telegraph Photograph) WILL THE LEAGUE STAND ON ITS OWN FEET? The great topic of discussion at this year's conference of the Maori Women's Welfare League was whether the league should become independent. On the opening day of the conference the Rt. Hon. Walter Nash said to the delegates: “I think you need more independence. You should stand more on your own two feet.” He made the league an offer of a diminishing annual grant of £2,000 for expenses to set itself up as an independent body. Naturally this caused a great stir, because until that time the League had been very closely associated with the Department of Maori Affairs. The League secretary, Mrs Joan Stone, was (and still is) an officer of the department; much assistance also comes from the women welfare officers who have helped branches and district councils to get started. Even under independence they would be available to attend meetings and give guidance on invitation. Delegates were very conscious of the help they had received from the department and many were a little afraid of the consequence if they were left to themselves. There was therefore much debate about the Prime Minister's proposal, some favouring independence and others shy of it. In the end Mrs Iriaka Ratana, M.P., probably expressed the view of the majority when she said: “As long as we are coddled by the department we will never be able to stand on our own feet. The job is now to go out to all our people and explain our decision to them.”

However, delegates were not too sure about timing. They passed no resolutions, but accepted the executive's suggestion that full investigations would be made and detailed proposals would be put to the 1960 conference. There were also discussions, very realistic ones, about the financial situation under independence. For how long would the grants to the league continue; would they stay at £2,000 per year? On this point the minister's liaison officer, Mr M. R. Jones, gave an explanation to conference. He said that the grants would gradually diminish, as the League's financial means permitted. Meanwhile, all were agreed that the League would need to get more income from its 3000 members if it wished to prosper under independence. Up to this year, the annual subscription to the league was 2/6 of which 1/- was paid to the Dominion Executive for its expenses, the rest being shared between branches and district councils. This meant a total of £150 per year to the Dominion Council. In addition there were the proceeds of the Day of Giving, £339 this year. Clearly this did not even begin to pay for the running of an independent organization. The league's estimate of its central office expenditure was £2,550, but observers were agreed that this figure would be an absolute minimum. As a first step to greater affluence, conference decided to raise annual members' dues to 5/-, of which 3/- would go to the Dominion Executive. The conference was held in extremely attractive surroundings—the War Memorial Hall in Napier, a fine piece of modern architecture standing on the foreshore and surrounded by a wealth of flower beds; there is even a floral clock. The hall is circular with windows almost all the way round. This shape is very pleasing and ideal for a large conference (there were 200 delegates), because people are concentrated closely together. The Heretaunga District Council were wonderful hostesses. Remits brought comparatively little that was new, the most valuable probably being two Auckland remits on housing: “That the maximum allowable income for State Rental Housing tenants be assessed on a sliding scale increasing with each additional member of the family”; and “That in making housing allocations, T.B. priorities be deducted from the general housing pool before the Maori allocation is made, as otherwise the high incidence of T.B. among the Maori people absorbs almost the whole of the Maori allocation.” There is no doubt that in these two resolutions, the league is ably representing the interests of the Maori people. The requests are entirely reasonable and if ways can be found to meet them, they will undoubtedly help to ease the Maori housing situation in the cities. These were only two out of the 56 remits that were considered by conference. Many of these remits were repeated from previous years, others were entirely local in subject. I wonder whether this rush of formal business is really the best way of using conference time. Naturally there must be remits to government, but surely the planning of programmes and methods of branch work are of at least equal importance. The league works in a rapidly changing Maori world where social and educational work of the most varied kinds is needed. No other New Zealand women's organization is to the same extent responsible for vital innovations in hundreds of communities. If the league is to be independent and therefore has to frame its own approach, then guidance should come from the national conference. Among interesting contributions were Mr W. Parker's evening lecture and Mr K. I. Robertson's talk on education. Mr Robertson told delegates about new developments in Maori education over the year, quite an impressive list—the training of teachers of Maori language and culture, the preparing of Maori school bulletins, and a book on Maori arts and crafts for schools, the new strength of the Maori School Committees, the reconsideration of the scholarship system. He warned conference of the unfortunate consequences when boarding school fees are not paid —a school may become wary of accepting Maori boarders. Speaking about Maori university students, he stresses that they needed a second year in the sixth form to be confident of success later. Grants from the Maori Purposes Fund are available to help those taking that second year. Mrs Rumatiki Wright, senior Maori Woman Welfare Officer, told the delegates about her visit to Russia as part of a delegation from the National Council of Women. She was impressed with the cultural standards of Russian women, and with the methods of vocational guidance. The following officers were elected by conference: Patroness: Princess Piki Paki. Dominion President: Mrs M. Logan (re-elected unopposed). Dominion Vice-Presidents: Mrs M. Hirinii and Mrs M. Szaszy. Dominion Secretary-Organizer and Treasurer: Mrs J. Stone. District Representatives: Mrs L. Wallscott (Te Waipounamu), Mrs M. Tamihana (Tairawhiti), Mrs J. Ellison (Waiariki), Mrs L. Te Waari (Aotea), Mrs W. Bennett (Ikaroa), Mrs M. Szaszy (Tokerau), Mrs K. Jones (Waikato-Maniapoto). Health Department Representative: Miss Cameron. Representative of the Department of Maori Affairs: Mrs R. Wright. Official League Delegates: Mrs W. Bennett for the Pan-Pacific Association, Mrs P. Moss for the South-east Asia Women's Association, Mrs M. Logan for the National Council of Women. The next conference will be held at New Plymouth. E. G. S……