Personal Triumph For Maori Leaders

Chronicle (Levin), 12 March 1949, Page 3

Personal Triumph For Maori Leaders

WELLINGTON, March 11. Even. if tke Maori majority in tlie !Hing Gountry ag|in&t ;tker introduction of liquor licences is not large, it can be accepted as a personal triumph for Princess Te Puea Herangi and other leaders of Waikato and Ngati Mahiapoto who, in the nar*e*p£ King Koroki, fought the is'sue strenuously. The followers of the Kiingitanga (or Maori King Movement), have upheld the mana of tho'se chiefs who entered into h pact.or agreement of some sort With ^Government to exclude .liquor from th^' ^ing j.C ountry., } In othe|'|^ords, is also a vindica^p-/Vb£ 'ft^tude of the elders as /d^ainst that of , many young MaoriAwiio wohld.;'hhye pfeferred open bar&i ! : : if -1 ■' * PrihcesS' (Ce PuCh' hhd; those wtdlWere with he;r ih . this dght ;nfe,intained that a vote in f avour of licences in that area would have ' ' tramped on the word ' ' of the chiefs — those old-time leaders who, in return for certain concessions to the Government, accepted the latter's assurance that the King Gountry would remain " dry" _ as far as tiie Maori people were coneerned. Princess Te Puea has never swerved from her conviction that such a pact or agreement, or whatever that undertaking may have been (for it does not appear to have been reeorded, though Sir Robert Stout, one of the people most coneerned, publiely corroborated the Maori belief), should be honoured. Never theless, the strength of the Maori vote in f avour of licences is an indication that, with the passing of the present recognised leaders, it will grow, , and it is a moot point as to how mueh longer the King Country can be kept "dry." The Maoris in that area, as elsewhere, are passing through a transition period. Many resent any restrictions whatsoever on what they regard as their personal liberties. On the other hand, the forces that support the traditional ehiefly viewpoint (that is, the honouring of the word of their ancestors), have in this instance appealed auccessfully to sentiment, and it is clear that the latter emotion is still strong when Maoris go to the ballot box.