WELFARE OF MAORIS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 916, 8 March 1930, Page 1

WELFARE OF MAORIS

CHILDREN UNDER STATE CONTROL SEPARATION FROM RACE Legislation should be made to bring about an amendment to the Child Welfare Act in the provisions affecting Maori children, in the view of the Akarana Maori Association. Cases have been noted where Maori children, removed from their parents by Court order, have been reared in wholly European surroundings. Members of the association are questioning the desirability of such a position. They indicate the faults of having Maori children completely separated from their race, losing all comprehension of Maori language, history and customs, and perhaps having their claims to tribal land interests .obscured. In the opinion of the association, which intends to make representations on the question, the nearest Maori relatives should be considered first as guardians of native children, who are separated from their parents by Court order. This consideration would be beneficial in every direction, especially where land interests are involved. Referring to the possibility of divergence of results in magisterial orders under the Child Welfare Act and judgments on land questions in the Native Land Court, when the same family is concerned, the association maintains that a safeguard would be made by giving judges of the Native Land Court magisterial power to make orders under the Child Welfare Act. This would eliminate confusion.