The Pakeha Law

Te Ao Hou, 1973, Page 27

The Pakeha Law With this very sketchy background I would like now to proceed to consider how our acts of Parliament—how our laws—do deal with this situation—this multi-racial society which we in fact have, despite some statements to the contrary. The law as we call it—these acts of Parliament—makes, as we might expect, special mention of the Maori. The Maori was here before the law, before the Pakeha law, and the Pakeha law makes, of course, special mention of him. The Pakeha law found, and still finds, it very hard to define just who was, or is, a Maori. Perhaps it was not quite so hard to define this when Captain Cook first sighted the shores of our island country, but it is certainly more difficult now. There have been a number of attempts at defining who is a Maori for various different purposes. For some purposes, as you know, the reference is to the expression ‘half-blood or more’. I cannot say that I like this method of definition, but there it is. Other definitions have reference to Maori ancestry. I think, however, we are moving away from rigid and technical definitions and coming to the straight question of the wishes and consent of the person concerned—as they do in a number of countries overseas. Thus we may eventually come to the situation where, if you feel and say you are a Maori, then you are one. This difficulty of definition must be borne in mind when we consider the host of figures and comparisons which are constantly being made on a proportional basis or a percent age basis as between the Maori population, the Pakeha population and the total population, etc., etc. These figures may mean many things and have to be looked at with reserve. It used to be said you will remember that the Devil can quote Scripture for his own purposes, and now one sometimes feels that figures are quoted for their purposes by politicians, academics, statisticians, political scientists, and the host of people who now put pen to paper to issue opinions and findings on our racial situation in New Zealand. In law the Maori is a British subject and a New Zealand citizen. This is in accordance with his wish expressed in the processes of history. He has all the rights and status which accrue in the eyes of the law to such a position. There are, in addition, some special legal provisions which apply to the Maori, and to the Maori alone. The law makes no mention of Polynesia or Polynesians—thus our island friends who come and live here depend upon the general law for their legal status. If they are already New Zealand citizens when they arrive—such as the people from the Cook Islands, Niue and the Tokelau Islands—they retain this status. If they come from a territory which is a member of the British Commonwealth such as Samoa, Tonga, and Fiji, they then are not completely foreigners according to our law, but they have the status of Commonwealth citizens which does mean something. However, if these factors do not apply, the Polynesian coming here is just a plain foreigner. This would be the case for those coming, for example, from Tahiti or Hawaii. In any event if the Poly-

nesian is not a Maori there is nothing special in the law for him.