Establishment Of Exclusively Maori Units Approved

Taranaki Daily News, 29 August 1942, Page 4

Establishment Of Exclusively Maori Units Approved

Press Assn.

Revival of leadership commended by Minister.

Wellington, Last Night.

The War Cabinet has approved a plan for the regrouping of Maori personnel in the armed forces into exclusively Maori units with Maori officers and non-commissioned officers. The Minister in charge of the Maori War Effort, the Hon. P. K. Paikea, said to-night that this had been received with the utmost satisfaction and delight by Maori 'people throughout the Dominion. The Maoris. said the Minister, felt in this movement an appeal to their racial pride, an opportunity to accept responsibility in keeping with their past traditions, and the right to express th'emselves in their own Maori ways. This must be not construed as a reversion to obsolete methods of organisation but, on the contrary, as an adaptation of modern methods based on that outstanding and ancient characteristic of the Maori, to co-operaie with one another in the attainment of a common object. Since the Government authorised the establishment of a Maori war effort organisation, continued the Minister, encouraging and satisfactory progress had been achieved in putting into operation the measures and principles involved. Tribal committees were being established rapidly all over the Dominion, and their duties would be to co-operate in recruiting Maori men of eligible military age for the third Maori battalion and other Maori units and in the campaign for increasing production. Generally they would assist in directing and placing Ihe remaining manpower and womanpower of the Maori people where it was calculated to best serve the interests of their country. Mr. Paikea said the approval given to the formation of additional Maori units had been acclaimed by the Maori people as a movement close to their heart. The revival of leadership in the Maori people, said the Minister, whether it be in the fighting services or in their settlements, might be calculated to prove of vital importance fo the future development and welfare of the race. On the production side of the Maori war effort, the Minister concluded, the response of the Maori people had been most enthusiastic. Preparations were being made for the production of additional vegetables and other foodstuffs in order to meet abnormal war demands.