MAORI BATTALION

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20919, 26 September 1939, Page 2

MAORI BATTALION

OPINION IN SOUTH WHOLE RACE NOT CONSULTED 'By Telegraph.—Press Association) CHRISTCHURCH, Monday “There has been a suggestion that a Maori battalion should be formed for service overseas, and this idea I dc not share,” said Mr Te Ari Pitama, of Christchurch, speaking at a Maori function at Temuka. “We should rather leave this subject in the hands of the Government to decide what is the best field in which the Maori men or people should serve. * “I feel there is a definite obligation on the part of the pakeha to defend the Maori, because under the Treaty of Waitangi Her Majesty the Queen guaranteed the protection of the Maori race. The Maoris did not give their land to the Queen, but rather ceded it under the treaty, and in return were to receive the protection of the pakeha. “It is unreasonable, too, that a section of the race, such as has sponsored the suggestion to form a Maori battalion for overseas, should step forward with a recommendation that is binding on the whole of the people without the rest of the race being consulted,” continued Mr Pitama. “I want to make it very clear, however, that I am definitely of the opinion that the Maoris should be prepared to play their part in the national crisis, and I think that while the decision as to our part in defence matters should be made by the Government, the Maoris would be serving best by giving service here in New Zealand, in the land of our forefathers.”