ASIATICS INQUIRY

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 761, 6 September 1929, Page 11

ASIATICS INQUIRY

more evidence heard BY COMMITTEE V S!X DEPOSITIONS MADE With depositions from six witnesses already given, the Committee of Inquiry into the influence of Asiatics in Maori life is hearing second-day evidence in the offices of the Health Department today. The opening evidence was given by representatives of the European, the Maori and the Chinese communities. The committee will hear more evidence on the Asiatic problem up till tomorrow in Auckland, and then arrangements will he made for a tour of inspection of Chinese market gardens in the suburbs of Auckland. The inspection will probably be made at the beginning of next week. Another sitting, to obtain more evidence, is proposed at Pukekohe. After that, an inspection will be carried out in area 3 in the district from which complaints have come concerning the influence of Asiatics. When the programme is complete, a report will he forwarded lo the Minister of Native Affairs, Sir Apirana Ngata, on the lines suggested in the Minister's charge to the committee. The important social aspects of the question will be covered. At a meeting of the Akarana Maori Association last evening, the chairman, Mr. James Rukutai, explained to members the substance of the evidence given on behalf of the association. Dr. T. J. Hughes, medical officer of health at Auckland, is presiding at the inquiry. The Labour Department is represented by Mr. W. Slaughter, and the Native Department by Mr. Tukere Te Anga.

MAORIS AND ASIATICS

AN ECONOMIC PROBLEM SUGGESTED SOLUTION \ scheme for the solution of the difficulty of Maori girls associating with Asiatics was brought forward by Mrs: M. B. Soljak, at a meeting of the Auckland women’s branch of the nabour Party. The scheme met with general approval, and Mrs. Soljak was appointed to speak on behalf of the commission now sitting in Auckland. A resolution was passed, that the attention of the Minister of Native Affairs, Sir Apirana Ngata, should he drawn to the fact that the problem of Maori girls associating with Asiatics is an economic one, and cannot be solved otherwise than by a scheme which will assist these girls to attain social and economic independence.