FUTURE OF THE MAORI

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 9, Issue 96, 8 July 1946, Page 4

FUTURE OF THE MAORI

COMMENT in this paper of recent date has once again brought to the forefront,, the vexed question and problem of the Maori race. Since the coming of the Peace, and the rehabilitation of some hundreds of Maori servicemen in this district, the whole subject has become momentous and of the utmost importance in its priority. The Maori is no longer a shrinking race. His actions and patriotic response during the war have proved him a citizen whose loyalty cannot be doubted, and whose status is of the first water. _ _ With a population well over one hundred thousand, his virility and participation in the future prospects of this country are recognised by the pakeha community generally, and the Government today stands at the crossroads in its endeavour to point a certain direction and developmental policy. The fact that broadly speaking, the Maori has today achieved his full rights to citizenship, and it remains for his race to produce the leaders to whom all its members will look for guidance, upliftment, and general emancipation. The onus is on the Maoris themselves to find their natural leaders, and with sympathy and understanding from the pakeha community, we have no doubt but that the potential development of the race will be on the right and proper lines.