Maori Leader Asks for a Stocktaking

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 719, 19 July 1929, Page 1

Maori Leader Asks for a Stocktaking

CONDITIONS OF RACE WAIKATO’S SILENT PRIDE (THE SUN'S Parliamentary Reporter.) PARLIAMENT BLDG., Thursday. That a stocktaking of the Maori race and an investigation of the economic conditions should be carried out, was the opinion expressed by the Minister of Native Affairs, the Hon. Sir Apirana Ngata, in the course of his Address-in-Reply speech in the House today. The Minister referred to the result of the investigation into the living conditions of the Waikato tribe, carried out in May. To carry out that work was not so easy as members might th ink. Psychologically the approach to the Waikato tribe had been one of the most difficult things in New Zealand. It had taken since 1896 to 1929 to achieve that approach, to gain an entry into the Waikato villages and carry out investigations. “We know the reason,” the Minister said. “The Maori wars, and confiscations that succeeded them, made the Waikatos one of the most suspicious and most sullen tribes so far as advances of pakeha are concerned. We had in our investigation to break down prejudices and suspicion before we could get into the Waikato, and find out how the tribe was living and what were its needs.” A survey had revealed very distressful conditions, and had the investigation been carried further similar conditions would probably be found to obtain in a portion of Thames, Tauranga, North Auckland, Wairarapa and Manawatu. The Minister said that after considering the question he had determined that what was wanted was a complete stocktaking of the Maori race, and a survey of economic conditions. That need not be done in any dramatic fashion, but officers of the department could collect facts and they would speak for themselves. He was convinced that the Maori of the present generation was worth saving. As a result of his visit to the South Island he was satisfied that the present generation was one the country could be proud of. There was as good material as in the days, long lamented, of which one was wont to say, “There lived chiefs whose word was their bond.” In the*South Island, where Europeanisation had proceeded more rapidly, there still existed a Maori spirit, and that was a hopeful sign.