MAORI MEMORIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 March 1939, Page 4

MAORI MEMORIES

A CHANGED CONTROL. (Recorded by J.H.S. for “Times-Age.”) The last link in Sir George Grey’s administrative programme, that of transferring the management of Native Affairs from the Imperial to the Colonial Government, was by comparison an easy one, for here he had Britons, not Maoris, to deal with. Mr Richmond’s Ministry under Colonel Browne as Governor, held office longer than any previous ministry, but Was defeated by Mr Fox’s party with a majority of only one vote. By a strange coincidence, Mr Fox (then Sir William) was defeated in his Rangitikei electorate by only two votes in 1881. His opponent, John. Stevens, was a young man who had never been to school, yet was an advocate of “free, compulsory and secular education.’! One notable feature of Sir William Fox’s legislation was to introduce and carry an Act giving the Colonial Parliament the right to control the destiny of the Maori. On behalf of the Imperial Government, Sir George then agreed to hand over the administration of Native Affairs to a responsible Colonial Minister. The most active ones who agreed to this were a multitude of small traders and the publicans, who believed that a Minister might be changed each session or each election and would be more or less under their control. To their consternation, Sir William Fox was chosen as the first Native Minister. He was well known as the brilliant advocate of prohibition, especially on behalf of the Maoris. Had he retained his mental and physical vigour for another few years his ambition to free the Maori from their greatest curse would have been realised. _____