SETTLEMENT OF MAORIS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 March 1943, Page 4

SETTLEMENT OF MAORIS

CROWN LANDS SHOULD BE AVAILABLE. MINISTER’S SUGGESTION. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) z WELLINGTON, This Day. A suggestion that Crown lands should be made available for the settlement of Maoris was made by the Minister in Charge of the Maori War Effort, Mr Paikea, during the Address-in-Reply debate in the House of Representatives last night. He said that if given a chance to play his part the Maori would do it in the future ‘Ss he was doing it today. Mr Paikea said that in the early colonisation days of this country Native lands were made available for the settlement of pakehas, but today there was not enough land for the settlement of the Maoris and it seemed that the reverse process should be applied. Mr Broadfoot (Opposition, Waitomo): “You have four million acres altogether available.” Mr Paikea: “Some of that is sandhills and mountain tops.” Mr Broadfoot: “And some is not.” Mr Paikea said the population of the Maori people had increased 30 per cent in the past 21 years, and it was reasonable to assume there would be a similar increase in the next 21 years. “What about applying the reverse process and making Crown lands and big . estates available to the Maoris,” asked Mr Paikea. He also expressed the hope that use would be made of the Maori War Effort Organisation in the rehabilitation of Maori servicemen on their discharge from the armed forces.