N.Z. MAORI COUNCIL SOME IMPORTANT ISSUES

Te Ao Hou, September 1963, Page 51

N.Z. MAORI COUNCIL SOME IMPORTANT ISSUES by John Booth Associate Secretary, N.Z. Maori Council Before this issue of ‘Te Ao Hou’ reaches you, the New Zealand Maori Council will have met again in Wellington to carry forward its work on behalf of the Maori people. At this stage the Council has to make haste slowly as its policy has to be worked out carefully and the District Councils, Executives and Maori Committees need time to think about the many problems involved. Part of the settling down process is to decide what are the really important issues and to try to tackle these effectively. There are a great many small questions that could, if we were not careful, take up the full time of the Council. These, however, must be put on one side until the vital policy decisions have been made. To help it make these decisions, the Council has adopted two procedures. First, surveys are being undertaken in some areas (beginning with the Ngarauru Maori Executive area) to get from the ordinary man and woman an outline of their main problems. Second, a special study group consisting of our Councillors, the Executive of the Maori Women's Welfare League, and some of the senior Welfare Officers, is to meet to talk about the problems facing the Maori people. We have heard from a great many well-wishers about what is wrong with the Maori. We are going to get our answer direct from Maoris themselves, and these answers, both from the people and from Maori experts, will help guide the Council in what it places first on its list of important matters to be dealt with.