LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 182, 28 April 1919, Page 8

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

MAORI RETURNED SOLDIERS

A SPECIAL OFFICE SUGGESTED.'

Sir,—lt lms occurred to me that many of the faults attributed to returned soldiers are hugely due to the fact that the recognition accorded io "boys from tha front" is mainly confined to a convenj tionnt "recognition," under the auspice* of .His Worship the Mayor, utterly lack : ing in the human element. The Returned Soldiers' Association was • primarily intended to conserve the interests of the returned soldiers, but, as a corporate body, it jus lamentably foiled in this respect lam not, in this ease, taking , up the cudgels of this "noble army" of returned soldiers generally, but on be half of a special section to whom , we, as a white nation, are especially indebted.I refer to the Maori Pioneer battalion. The authorities deemed it necessary ttf call in the aid of the Maoris, and I submit with all respect that due recognition has not been accorded to Native race who loyally responded to the call, without waiting for the "thou shalt die tate of Conscription. I can safoly assert , , without controvertinn facts, that the men und?r my commund were a 5 amenable to discipline a 9 any men in the Imperial Army, ami abetter soldier one could not wish to meet than the Maori volunteer. The war is at an'end. The soldier is 'no longer needed,, and it meets one at every turn that the mere name of returned soldier" is anathema, it -was evident after the South African war; it is equally evident now. I have served in both, campaigns, and I "claim to know the facts. ' . ■ •' Tor the Maoris, Sir, I claim', reoogm-. tTon. a recognition which is not accorded to those representatives, of a Native race which our Imperial authorities .saw lit, nay, found it necessary to call to their, aid in an hour of peril to the ' British. Empire. Conventionally, I admit, the Maori is treated as other men are;.actually, ho is at a 'manifest disadvantage. He is furnished with his sheaf of papers, and the "Department" lias done with him. Let him go to Base Records: they have done all they-can for him. Hβ goes to the Adjutant-General, and here he is cold-shouldered The G.O.C. is to him a figurehead. The Minister is no friend of the "returned soldier,' as instanced by his action regarding the closiiiir of the hotels to returned soldiers in. defiance of the votes of the men who did their duty to their . country, who were characterised as "the flower of the coun' try," and whose votes, on their return, mare- turned clown. My scheme is this. An office should be established, in Wellington to deal with the grievances of: and all matters relating to members of the Pioneer Battalion, -free from all political influence. Political influence and military red tape arc the .curse of tlie returned 60ldier, nnd we, as Maoris, claim as a representative )x>dy who bore our part in the war, and claim to have such an office established, and, in this connection, I would suggest our late commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Ennis, D.5.0., as the most appropriate head of such a Department—l ain, etc., ARTHUR TE WA WATA GANNON, Lieut., Pioneer Batt,