A Curious Campaign!!!

White Ribbon, Volume 26, Issue 13, 1 June 1955, Page 6

A Curious Campaign!!!

The Minister of Internal Affairs, the Hon, Corbet! recentlj Mated m the Home of Representati\cs that an intensive campaign was besSSJ conducted to gel the Maori people and their leaders ace the serious menace <»f liquor. Me said that the question of Drink and its control h\ the Maori a Inch was bringing degradation to the race \ further comment W%» made by a Maori meniher, Mr I'aikea "It is true that some Maoris cann« t hold their liquor, and abuse the privili tended to them, hut it the Maori people cannot help thcmsetvei oa this question, then no oae elae can They shonhl wake up attd take Itodl Of their surroundim More liquor We would like to hear aOOM particulars of the "intensive campaign" referred to hy the Minister of Maori \ffairs, because the impaign that we know anything about is the one that has been IStently pursued to gel the Maoris to drinn more lujuor. In view | the nuuiher of licences 1 to issue for the King Country, which, most certainly, will increase the consumption of liquor, it hard to disCo\er just what attempts are being made in the other direction. The "privile. •red to hy M r I'aikea are very doubtrol if it can he regarded as a privilege to drink a liquor that contains a narcotic poison, and many ris have done their utmost to prevent such "privileges" from being forced UpOfl them 1 was present in the House of Parliament in 1949 when a deputation of some 4UI Maoris, led bj that great woman, r'rincrs. Te I'uea. and King Koroki, came to beg the Prime Minister to I liquor BWay from their people 1 Ml in the Lathes' Gallery and witnessed the determination of the Labour Govermnem to allow Maori women into hotel hars and Maori men to take liquor away from hotels. \ poll was given to the Country against strong objection from the Maoris there The Prime Minister of a new National dovernuient said that there would he Separate pollpakehas and Maoris, hut the noil would be decided by 'lit Maoris The Maoris decided that they would not have liquor.

Because liquor interests were dissatisfied with this result, thev left no itOOc unturned 10 a coinhined poll I heard Mrs Ratatt's stirring appeal to Parliament to keep liquor awav from her people. The newspaper which reported this. aUo rted two murders, in srhkfa liquor was a ctmtnbuting cause. These both hipprncd in Oted areas, while Memhers of Parliament were laying that the KiSMj Country needed licence* DUregardiag Mn Ratana's plea, and that of many Maori elders and church workers, Parliament gave

•nbtaed poH, .<: which the pakeha. m a majoritj m the ana, voted liquor into a territor) where the Maoris had worked so hard to keep it out

A Serious Problem The latest development is that the Minister ( f Maori Affairs 1 , t.. the Maori Women's Welfare and spoken of the serious problem of the abuse of liquor m Maori communities, and the part which women could do to pre\ent it He 1 tia women to impi the men the ehT< not only on them-ekes, but also on their children. 0! conduct associated with Bqt Now, I ask you, what Ofl earth is the use of Cabinet Minister- talking in such fashion, while plans an being made to place more and more liquor bars inl territor) ! Maoris l come to Parliament in deputation. Maori members in Parliament that liquor should he kept from them altogether, while Parliaments have replied b) granting the Maoris 10 many facilities obtain it Only One Way Total Abstinence 1 »wr and over again, said that thcTonry one sra*. to prevent trouble through the consumption oj liquor, and that is to encourage total abstinence, and to prohibit its ulc altogether, and ii"t by the creation of further I ii being lone The prophet Micah s.-,w similar trouhle through drink in his day, when he WTOte, "If a man walking in the ipirit and falsehood do lie, saying 1 will prophesj unto th.-e of wine and stl drink, he shall e\en he the prophet of this people.* 1 Unless the people of New Zealand will grasp the truth, which shall make them tree, and shall upon a in the future, the) will not be able to escape the inevitable and terrible consequencei 0! their wrongful decision. —Victoria I VI \ (Wellington)