Separate Maori Battalion Again?

Te Ao Hou, June 1964, Page 45

Separate Maori Battalion Again? Reunions of the Maori Battalion National Associations are not restricted in nature to the consumption of copious quantities of ale, or to the swapping of yarns; there is aways a heavy agenda of formal business to be conducted. The Secretary for Defence, Mr J. K. Hunn, set the ball rolling when as guest speaker Hunn, set the ball rolling when as guest speaker he made what many thought a very provocative address, speaking firstly on the part that Maori ex-servicemen should play in peacetime, and secondly on the thorny question of the formation of a separate Maori Training Unit within the framework of the New Zealand defence system. In regard to the first question, he implored members of the Association to play a larger and more active part in the battle for peace, by taking a leading part in affairs of vital importance to the Maori people. It was when he made his points on the second main topic that an apparent restlessness pervaded his ex-servicemen listeners, many of whom lost sympathy with Mr Hunn. For many reasons, he said, it was not possible to accede to the request by the Association for a separate Maori Unit. He mentioned several reasons–a blow to the integration of the two races, difficulty in filling the quota for the Unit, practical difficulties regarding its training, the danger of creating a rival feeling between Maori and Pakeha soldiers, lack of Maori officers, and so on. As soon as Mr Hunn sat down, the fight was on. I sympathised with him, for I knew the great potential the Association guns had for such an occasion as this. Every speaker attacked the points made by the guest speaker, and the meeting ended as it did three years before in Rotorua, with the firm resolve to continue to fight for a separate Maori Unit.