BAN ON SHELLFISH

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 7, Issue 35, 21 December 1943, Page 4

BAN ON SHELLFISH

Sir. —Knowing your fair mindedness in publishing matters affecting the interests of the community, or of a section only of the community, whether Pakelia or Maori, II venture to encroach upon your time on a mat-, ter which certainly affects vitally the interests of not a .small, but of a very large section of the community. In last Friday's issue of your worthy Press, there appeared a not idea- * tion of a resolution passed by the Matatua Maori Council' declaring the pipi beds in the Whakatane River as 1 a prohibited area under By-law fi() of the Maori Councils Act 1900. It may appear from this, that this action was instituted by the Council on their own initiative and Avith. the full support of the Maori people. L wish to point out, Sir, that this definitely was not the case, but that the resolution was, passed by the Council at tlie instigation of the District Health Office baqked up by his assertion that the pip is are contaminated by the. outflow of impure matter being emptied into the river in close proximity to the pipi beds. Lii their ready acceptance of and respect for the District Health Officer's opinion and official standi ing, and whom they would naturally look upon as having a. superior knowledge, of health conditions,-the Council felt it iincumbent upon them toi pass the resolution as requested by the Health Officer. These facts' were as reported to me personally by the chairman of the council. I 1 may add, Sir, that I am a member of this Council, but on account of indisposition, I was not able to attend the meeting of the Council at which this resolution was passed. The chairman is now of opinio-n that after hearing the investigations into this) matter at which he was present, of. the. Ngatiawa Tribal Committee,, the Council should cancel its resolution, but that it is preferable that the cancellation should comfe from the Health Inspector.

It is with the. greatest concern and disfavour that the Maori people of tliis district as a whole are viewing* this latest encroachment, upon one of their natural foods.

The- Maori people are not as a rule a complaining people until they are hard, pressed, and they certainly consider now that they have arrived at such a stage where a strong protest is demanded from them as a matter of right and necessity.

Can you wonder then that they hark back now to the days when their natural foods were plentiful .. and easily obtainable- until the advent '"of the Pakeha deprived them of their use. and of the unsurpassable health-giving properties they derived from such foods. The wild pigeon, tui and kalca were prohibited to the Maori as food by Act. of Parliament'. The easy methods of catching eels by weirs in rivers are. also prohibited bj' Act of. Parliament in order to protect the Pakeha's sporting fish y the trout. Even now there is much talik amongst the Pakeha trout fishing sports of inaugurating a big campaign to destroy the eels to make way for the usurping trout, lln this respect it may be noted thati it would cost the Maori nothing to enable him to catch as much eels as he desired, and by very .simple means,, were it not for legal restrictions imposed upon such means; but for him to eatc v h the trout if he were so inclined, he would have; to conform with regulations which, would cost him quite a bit, and per-, haps more than he could afford, and at that too. his catch wMI have to be limited. Another natural' food of the Maori, the Toheroa, is also governed by restrictions whereby he may not, as in the past, take away as much as he required. It is noticeable now that many Pake-has may be seen on the cockle beds at Ohiwa gathering this delicacy, another natural food of. the Maori,, and it may be presumed that sooner or later a depletion will occur in this commodity, and prohibitive .methods will ul'so be instituted in such case. A similar instance is occurring with mussels. As for fish, where in the- past, it was no exaggeration to say that it was most unusual to see 110 fish

hanging outside, of Maori homes at any time, now the position is just the. reverse.. There is no need to seek far for a reason as to the cause of this. The encroachment of fishing trawlers have disturbed the Maori fishing grounds, and cither depleted or driven away the. fish from such grounds. The curlew, another natural food of the Maori is also restricted by law, as is also the whitebait. Can you wonder then. Sir. that the long suffering Maori people should at last begin to murmur and protest, against til's last injustice, the prohibition of the only remaining natural food which has been freely open to them ? Is it unreasonable for them to say thai if there is truth in the contention that the pipfe are contaminated as alleged, why then should not the Health Inspector move,, not to deprive them of their pipis which to them is a very important means of helping them to exist, but rather to remove the cause of contamination ?

Many a Maori family tides over a shortage of meat or other foods by a supply of pipis or other shellfish. Take these awav from them, then I'm afraid the Government of the clay wiill be laced with the problem of subsidising their means of support to make up for the loss of their natural; foods.

There is much complaining, Sir. amongst our Pakeha friends against rationing of certain living commodities'. You hear very little-, if any at all, J'rom the Maori people of such complaints, not only because it is necessary as a«war effort, but ixv cause they do not consider it in way a hardship but only a little inconvenience which one will soon overcome by adapting ones self to the.'reduced conditions. Whereas in the case of the plpis.. it is a complete withdrawal of prevention of the use of .same. Sir, iir writing this letter, 1 am acting under the authority of the Ngatiawa Tribal Committee who are taking this matter up 011 behalf of the people. l they represent., • and therefore, may be regarded as a Tribal protest which will certainly bfc . supported and followed up a:so. by other Tribatl Committees, in the district. i) am authorised to express the j committee's appreciation' for the reluctance shown by the chairman and members of the Harbour Board in acceding to the request of the Health Officer to have notices erected 011 the waterfront prohibiting the use of the pipis in their respect for the feelings of the Maori Yours etc., A. O. STEWART,, Chairman of the Ngatiawa Tribal Committee/ ST. JOHN AMBULANCE Sir, So much has been said and written lately about the doings of the local branch of the St. John Ambulance Association that I am

tempted, Mr Editor to ask what actually the Association has been doing. 1 may be one of the fortunate, ones who has never had much reason to call on the Ambulance, but I see where they intend erecting a hall to serve as a permanent headquarters. 1 would like to give this project every support and would therefore welcome, a little elucidation. Not. that I am criticising the Brigade or any of its attendant branches but I think if they want to have a good response then it would be an opportune time; to give a concise outline of what the Association stands for and what, it expects to do by way of extending its service after constructing a hall f»om funds raised publicly. I' am not against the movement: merely one who- would like to know. Yours etc., N PARKER. (We have referred the above letter to officers of the Whakatane St. John executive, who will no doubt reply in full in due course. Ed.)