MAORI & PAKEHA

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 March 1940, Page 9

MAORI & PAKEHA

WELFARE OF TWO RACES

ADDRESS BY HON. W. C. PARRY,

W AIR ARA PA CON C 1 RA3'U LA TED

Proposing the toast of tlio Native Race, a! ilie Centennial luncheon in the Municipal Hall today, I lie Minister of Internal Affairs (Air Parry) said he did so with feelings of enthusiasm.

"At no other period in the settlement of New Zealand than today, in the progress and development of the Dominion. has the welfare of the Maori and the pakeha been so closely bracketed for the common good of the two races,’’ the Minister continued. “In this year of the one hundredth birthday of New Zealand—a year in which the greatest struggle in the history of the Commonwealth of Nations is taking place—the Macri is united with the pakeha in, not only offering, but giving, the full weight of his aid. He did so, too, in the Great War with credit to his race and with credit to the Empire and his country—New Zealand. The unity of the Maori and the pakeha is not in name only; it is in the wholeheartedness of the feelings of the one people to the other that the unity of the pakeha and the Maori has been bred. We have in the Legislature of the Dominion, Maori representatives exercising the same rights and privileges as the pakeha. Few national questions are decided without consideration being given in all ways to the Maori and to the welfare of his people. He has his definite place in the affairs of the Dominion and that place is shoulder to shoulder with the pakeha in all things that matter to his country and to the Empire. And so, onward goes the progress of the Dominion with the spirit and effort of the pakeha and the Maori intermingled for the benefit of all. GREAT WORK OF PIONEERS. “The Centennial celebrations have brought happily and reverently to light more of the features of the great work of the New Zealand pioneers than, probably, has done any previous happening or event in the history of the country. That is as it should be. New Zealand was singularly blessed in having as its founders and moulders, men and women of a remarkable spirit and capacity for industry and enterprise, and these high qualications of its colonists come prominently before the eyes of any student of the early colonisation ad settlement of this industrious. and prosperous land. The calibre of the men and women who did the nursing of New Zealand in its infancy and of the men and women who progressed with the country’s upbringing right up to this day, is that from which strong nations spring—people whose capabilities, indomitable courage, and endurance in all things, have produced in the world today both admiration and envy. NOBLE EXAMPLE SET. “As the representative of the Government at this Centennial luncheon, 1 do honour to you, as the pioneers of the Wairaarpa, a no unimportant part of this Dominion. Your work in other days for the district and the nation as a whole, the fine and noble example you have helped to set for the geneiations to come, have earned for those who came before you, and for you. the high pedestal on which all have rightly and proudly placed them and you. “A present-day New Zealander has no need to delve info the pristine iccords of the glory of this country to find out the work and feats performed by the pioneers. He can see around him everywhere he may go in these isles the results of that work and of the wonderful feats of the pioneers. And he sees much to admire and to enthusiastically appreciate. This territoiy of the Wairarpa is rich in planning, development, progress and achievement. Its original settlers, those that followed them in their footsteps, and the settlers of today, were and are of the mettle of which I have spoken. New Zealand’s pioneers of yesterday, and those to whom we do honour today were and are undaunted in confronting and overcoming the difficulties i' nc ‘ perplexities which beset them. 3 hey were determined in all. their resolves and purposes in life, and the fruits of their labours the people of the country bountifully enjoy today. These, I know, are laudatory words, but their accuracy no one could make bold to question, for the work of the pioneers is New Zealand’s great monument and well does that monument merit the salutes it receives.

SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE. “The people of Masterton—in fact, the people of the whole Wairaiapa deserve the warmest congratulations on the full significance they have attached to the celebration of New Zealand’s 100th birthday. Their promotion of this very representative gathering of the district’s gallant pioneers and of the events arranged for this afternoon, show to the Dominion that the spirit of the people who planned and moulded this country is still undiminished. With that spirit, and the energy, enthusiasm and foresight it gives, this country of ours cannot help but go staunchly forward, along the course so well and soundly set by its founders.

THE SIREN OF WAR. “New Zealanders are intensely, loyal to the traditions of the Empire, of which they form no small part, and to all that those traditions mean—peace, justice and freedom ol life and thought. The siren of war had but sounded when the sons of the pioneers were arranging their atlairs, to make ready to take their share of the work in upholding on land, air and sea the traditions which so well helped to cradle them into manhood. And in the minds—but unspoken—of the fathers and mothers of these bronzed sons ot theirs, run the same fine and lofty thoughts of men and women who before them made the Empire the invulnerable bulwark it is. These sons of pioneers know the righteousness ol the cause they have set out to defend: it was implanted in them at birth, and we wholeheartedly expect of them the same sure work which the pioneers did for this splendid country of ours.. "In the years to come, ladies and gentlemen," the Minister concluded. "New Zealand will be marching on. surmounting and replacing its difficulties by development, and if we could but see it fifty years hence we would assuredly say, 'The spirit of the pioneers is still the dominant factor m New Zealand’s progress.’ “I thank you, ladies and gentlemen, and extend to you all the good wishes of the Government and of myself.’’