Why Where the Maori Land Boards Abolished? KO TE WHAKAKORENGA O NGA POARI WHENUA MAORI Ko Turi ano tenei. Ka tangi te mapu a te tangata o Te Tari motemea ko te Turi ano tenei nana ra nga patai mo nga mahi a te Tari Maori i panuitia ra ki te putanga tuatahi o Te Ao Hou. Ka maunu te potae o Turi ki runga i te tepu o taua apiha e whakatau ana ki runga i te tepu o taua apiha e whakatau ana ki runga i te turu i te ngaro ke te tangata nona a ka timata te kari o ana patai. He aha tenei e rongo nei au kua whakakorea nga Poari Whenua Maori? He tika tena. Kua whakataua e te Paremata tetahi Ture hei whakakore atu i aua Poari Whenua Maori a ko o ratou mana, me a ratou mahi me nga moni hoki kua tukua ki te Kaitieki Maori. Ko pehea matou i raro o tenei Ture? Kaore noa iho he rereketanga. Ahakoa kua whakakorea nga Poari ko a ratou mahi ka mau tonu, ma te Kaitieki Maori e mahi a ko nga Apiha Tieki o nga Tari o nga Rohe, i mua ake nei i huaina ko nga Kai-Rehita, ona mangai. Mo te taha ki a koutou moni reti kaore he rereketanga me ahu tonu atu ki nga Tari Maori pera ano i mua ake nei a me kawe ano hoki o koutou hemanawatanga ki reira. Ma wai e whakatikatika aku tono awhina moni ki te Poari? Ka haere rawa ranei nga tono ki Poneke a tera e roa noa atu pea te wa ka puta mai nga whakatau? Ka pera tonu ra nga mana tuku moni o te Kaitieki Maori i o nga Poari ra. A pera ano i mua ake nei ko nga tono awhina hei hanga whare hei whakapai whenua me tuku ma te Poari mo nga take Maori, kei Poneke, e whiriwhiri. Otira e whai mana ana te Kaitieki Maori ki te tuku i ana ake moni i runga i te mokete mo nga take tika a kaore e taka ki raro i nga here o te ture ahuwhenua. Me kawe a koutou tono mo nga awhina ki nga Apiha I hope, said Turi, you don't mind answering a question. Oh no, quite the contrary, said the official. We are here to please. Well, then, I have heard a lot of discussion about the Maori Land Boards recently. It is true, is it not, that they were abolished on September 30? That is quite true. Parliament had passed an Act abolishing the Maori Land Boards and transferring all their rights, duties, powers and liabilities to the Maori Trustee. What difference will that make to us? Very little. Although the Boards are abolished, practically all their operations will be taken over by the Maori Trustee, and handled in districts by the District Officer, as the Maori Trustee's representative. In the case of rents, a beneficiary will go to the same office and deal with the same clerk as always, and any problem will be handled by the District Officer. Who will now arrange that Board loan for me? Will the application now have to go to Wellington instead of being decided here, and will there be a lot more delay? The Maori Trustee will, generally speaking, have the same powers of lending as the Boards used to have. As in the past, Maori housing and land development loan moneys are controlled by the Board of Maori Affairs, in Wellington, but the Maori Trustee can lend moneys for general purposes and on a straight-out mortgage basis without the necessity, say, for coming under a development scheme. However, applications for loans of any kind should be made at District Offices and the District Officer will consider them and send them on to Wellington with his recommendation. This is no different from the former system, since Board loans have for many years been subject to approval by the Board of Maori Affairs, and have had to be sent down to Wellington.