IS YOUR HOME POISON PROOF?

Te Ao Hou, March 1961, Page 60

IS YOUR HOME POISON PROOF? Issued by the NEW ZEALAND DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH IN THE KITCHEN? Danger lurks under the kitchen sink and in all low storage cupboards. Place kerosene, disinfectants, household cleansers, etc. out of a child's reach. IN THE BATHROOM! Keep all drugs in a locked cupboard. IN THE WORKSHOP? There is danger in the workshop from weedkillers and sprays, turps., petrol, etc. KEEP DRUGS AND DANGEROUS SUBSTANCES LOCKED UP

Whereas European land was usually in the name of one person, Maori land often had hundreds, even thousands of owners in minute fractions. The reason was that even the smallest interest in the land would save that owner from being a landless Maori, a person without turangawaewae or standing to speak on the tribal marae. It would be a good thing if the Maori people with their customary realism, could come to regard the ownership of a modern home in town or country as a stronger claim to speak on the marae than ownership of an infinitesimal share in scrub country that one has never seen. Turangawaewae, based on home ownership, would be a realistic gesture of recognition of those Maoris who have proved themselves of some consequence as citizens and have demonstrated their love of a particular plot of land in a practical way. “Live buying” of Maori land interests by the Maori Trustee, that is, buying from living owners by agreement, offered the greatest scope of the various methods employed for the simplification of titles. The trustee principles would be the simplest and easiest device for converting land titles into sole ownership. In Maoridom, this principle was already found in two well-established forms: 1. The Maori Trustee. 2. Incorporations. These alternatives, with some adaptation, were all the problem demanded. The Maori Trustee would be the agency for buying and selling and would be the trustee of any lands or proceeds to be held in trust for, say, a New Zealand Maori Trust Board. In other cases, incorporation would usually be the appropriate method of holding land in sole ownership on behalf of the beneficial owners concerned. Under the incorporation principle, it was possible to conceive of all the Maori tribes being incorporated by statute as land-owning bodies. They could gradually buy up all the “uneconomic” interests in their tribal districts and in the course of time become sole owners of all lands therein, in trust for all members of the tribe, and thus restore turangawaewae to each and every one of them.