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Te Ao Hou, June 1963, Page 35

Continued from page 5 feel myself that Maoritanga will be embellished by the pursuit of Western civilization.’ Mr Bennett said that the concept of appointing a Maori as head of one of New Zealand's overseas missions four years ago was a new development in our international politics and was viewed with interest by a number of countries—particularly in Africa and Asia, where it was assessed as being symbolic of New Zealand's racial policy. As a result, the image of New Zealand as a tolerant, enlightened country had been enhanced. During his appointment in Malaya, Mr Bennett said he had been struck by the number of words in the Malayan language which were identical or similar to Maori words. This had afforded personal proof of the accepted theory that native races from as far north as the Philippines and Malaya, and right down to the South Pacific, were all part of the same language group and shared a common origin. This was probably one of the reasons why he and his wife had not felt strangers in Malaya; nor had they been treated as strangers. By undertaking schemes under the Colombo Plan to help raise the living standard of Malaya (now second to Japan among South-east Asian countries), New Zealand was strengthening one of Asia's last strategic outposts resisting the spread of Communism, said Mr Bennett. For a democracy to exist, he added, a country must have a reasonable standard of living and literacy; an efficient civil service; and secure and able political leadership. At least one of these attributes was missing in any country which had been taken over by a dictatorship or Communism. ‘Every penny we have put into Malaya has been money well spent’, he said. ‘By helping Malaya we are really helping ourselves.’