King Country Chronicle Wednesday, Feb. 22, 1911. TOPICS OF THE DAY.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 339, 22 February 1911, Page 4

King Country Chronicle Wednesday, Feb. 22, 1911. TOPICS OF THE DAY.

I The public meeting of Tauniarunui residents which decided to petition the Governor to abolish the jurisdic- ; tion of the Maori District Council, and the restrictions of the kaianga i within the borough deserves every j support and sympathy. It was conclusively shown that these apathetic \ native bodies and artificially formed ; boundaries within a European munici- | pal borough are a positive menace to | public health and objectionable in I every possible sense. In their origin, | it is granted, they served some useful I purpose in the absence of a stronger authority, but the position becomes an j impossible one when a Maori Council I and the Borough authorities are oper- | ating over one area. The recent col- ' letion of dog tax by the Maori dog j tax collector is a sufficiently aggrai vating case in point, but there is a I more serious aspect of the position, ; affecting not only Taumarunui, but \ every other centre in the King Counj try. When cases of sickness or death | occur amongst Maoris there is no com- ! pulsion to report them to the Health Department, they being supposed to he under the control of the Native Department. We all know the efficicncy of that body. Our native friends will have to be brought under exactly the same sanitary laws and regulations as govern the pakeha, and that without loss of time. There is a distinct menace to public health in the notion of leaving the white community open to risks of infection through the lack of the thorough control of the native race in sanitary and hygienic matters.