MAORI AND PAKEHA

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 376, 10 November 1932, Page 5

MAORI AND PAKEHA

U'Post" Special Commissioner) .

1mportant question FULL RIGHTS QF TREATY OF WAITANGI ARE : DEMANDED ? PRIME MINISTER'S REPT.Y

Wellington, wednesday. An important question affecting the Maori race was raised in the House of Representatives to-day by Mr.. E. T. Tirikatene (Ratana,. . Southern Maori), who asked th'e Prime Minister (Rt. Hon. G. W, Forbes)-) , whether it was tbe intention of the Government to give .the House an opportunity ; this session. of • discussing , the Treaty of Waitangi with a view to restoring to the Maoris the sacred rights and privileges embodied in the treaty. These had long beemdenied the. Maori race and this demand had imposed upon them untold suffering., . Through the actions of past Governments in ignoring main principles embodied in the treaty, the Maori people had been fast becoming a dispossessed race. Mr. Forbes' Reply "The honourable gentleman is aff ordgd, under the f orms of the House, ample opportunities for bringing the matter before the attention of Parliament, which he will find is as solicitious as the elected. Maori representatives are of the rights and privileges of the Maori people, -not only under the Treaty of Waitangi, but by. virtue of'tha trust reposed in the British raee to safeguard the interests- and welfare of all native inhabitants that have come under British rule," replied- Mr.. Forbes; "It is not admitted that past Governments -have , ignored tbe main prinpiples : of . the ; Treaty of Waitangi. : On the other i hand, they have sought to apply gradually the principles of civilisation and the -laws of the Pakeha to the special conditions of the Maori tribes only to the extent that those tribes are prepared for same. Treatment of Maoris "Notwithstanding the declaration of the Treaty of Waitangi that the same laws shall apply to the Maori as to the Pakeha, Parliament has seen fit to differentiate in regard to liquor laws, laws relating to native lands and local and general taxation and in other respects. "The full app'lication of unemployment legislation to the Maori has not been considered advisable in view of tbe rumoure.d objection of certain tribes to registration and compulsory contribution to the unemployment levy. "The special representation of the Maori people in Parliament,- instead of being merged with the Pakeha in joint electorates, is itself anomalous and may be regarded as a departure from the strict interpretation of the principle of equality enunciated ■ in the treaty. Rights of Citizenship "I am sure that the hon. gentleman will not seriously advocate an alteration in the law which prohibits the supply of intoxicating liquor to women of the Maori race or which prevents native lands from being dealt with as assets in the bankruptcy of the native owner or which regulates and supervises in the native interest, the alienation of such land or which protects the Maori in a special way on the assumption of his backwardness and consequent inability to undertake in the fullest degree, the obligations of citizenship which are a complement of the rights and privileges confirmed and assured to him by the treaty."