MAORI PURPOSES FUND BOARD (ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31st MARCH, 1943)

Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1943 Session I, G-11

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1943 NEW ZEALAND

MAORI PURPOSES FUND BOARD (ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31st MARCH, 1943)

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly pursuant to Section 14 of the Maori Purposes Fund Act, 1934-35

Meetings The statutory annual meeting only was held during the year under review. Personnel op Board It is with much regret that the Board records the deaths of two of its members since the close of the year to which this report relates —namely, the Honourable Mr. P. K. Paikea, who had been on the Board since 1938 in his capacity as a member of the House of Representatives representing the Maori race ; and of the Right Honourable Mr. J. G. Coates, a member appointed by the Governor-General and who had sat on the Board since its foundation in 1925. The Board records its thankfulness for the valued service given by them for the benefit of the Maori race. Operations (a) Education.—The annual grant of £500 was made to the Education Department in respect of the year 1942 to help increase the provision of Maori Free Place Scholarships for Maori and State secondary schools and also Universities. Commencing last year, £500 has been paid into a special fund, administered and disbursed by the Education Department on behalf of the Board, in meeting necessitous and/or deserving applications for educational assistance from Maoris who are not otherwise eligible for State scholarships. To date grants totalling £418 Is. sd. have been made to nineteen Maoris the continued education of whom at either secondary school or University, but for the Board's assistance, would not have been possible. Several other applications for the current year are at present under consideration. (b) Ethnology.—A further grant of £300 was made to the funds of the Polynesian Society, Incorporated, to assist the cost of issuing its excellent journal and also the publication of memoirs on Native affairs. This year has seen the launching of the sales of the Board's publication " Native Custom and Law affecting Native Land," by Norman Smith. It has met with a ready response from the legal profession as well as those individuals interested in the Maori, two hundred and fifty copies of the book having been disposed of already. It is felt that it fills a long-needed contribution to the literature on Maori social and economic organization as affected by the impact of western civilization. In showing clearly the marked difference between the mental outlook of the Maori and the pakeha in relation to the ownership and possession of property, it demonstrates why our administration and special laws applying to Natives are necessary, and it should contribute towards the mutual understanding of both races. At the date of writing this report, the programme approved to preserve the characteristics of the Maori language by phonographic records has been commenced. The N.B.S. recording unit cut some fifty discs of waiata, patere, and haka at the National Centennial ceremony at the opening of the ancestral meeting-houses of the Te Arawa tribe, the " Tamatekapua " and " Tawakeheimoa," at Rotorua. These records will be selected and permanent processed copies taken. (c) Arts and Crafts. —Specific donations from various District Maori Land Boards have enabled the following meeting-houses and maraes to be assisted to the extent shown : Tamatekapua, £475 ; Hinemaurea, £25 ; while a further amount (£4O) was granted from the Board's own fund for the renovation of the Tokanganui-a-noho Meeting-house. The workshop and cottages which comprised the Maori Arts and Crafts School at Rotorua have been disposed of to the Arawa District Trust Board, which proposes to use it for teaching the joinery trade and Maori arts and crafts, especially for rehabilitating returned Maori servicemen.

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(d) General.—The grant of £104 was continued to the Waikato-Maniapoto District Maori Land Board, being half the allowance paid to Princess Te Puea Herangi for the year ended 31st March, 1942. A grant of £15 was made to the Poverty Bay and East Coast Federation of Children's Health Camps on behalf of, and from moneys received from the Tairawhiti District Maori Land Board. The Board's paraphernalia for meetings and concerts —e.g., taiaha, piupiu, &c. —was again loaned to the Ngati-Poneke Young Maori Club, Wellington. Finance The Accumulated Fund of the Board is £47,529, in addition to which there are the balance of the Carnegie Fund of £342, and other special funds amounting to £285. The excess of income over expenditure for the year amounted to £284. The cash investment at call with the Native Trustee as at 31st March, 1943, was £45,035. Cash receipts and payments for the year are appended below : — Receipts £ Payments £ Cash balance as at Ist April, 1942 .. .. 44,392 Administration expenses .. .. .. 284 Grant from Consolidated Fund .. .. 375 Miscellaneous expenses .. .. .. 3 Interest .. .. .. .. .. 1,317 Grants —• £ Requisitions under section 95, Native Land Government Free Place Scholarships 500 Act, 1931, from Maori Land Boards for specific Special educational .. .. 250 purposes .. . . .. .. 615 Polynesian Society, Incorporated .. 300 Miscellaneous receipts .. .. .. 562 Meeting-houses and inaraes .. 640 Miscellaneous .. .. .. 119 1,809 Publishing costs book " Native Custom " .. 112 Cash balance as at 31st March, 1943 .. .. 45,053 £47,261 £47,261 Estimates The estimates of income and expenditure for the year ending 31st March, 1944, are as follows:— Income Expenditure Interest on cash with Native Trust Office at £ Administration expenses — £ £ 3 per cent. .. .. . . .. 1,300 Audit fee .. .. .. 21 Grant from Consolidated Fund . . . . 375 Commission: Native Trustee .. 60 Profit on sale of publications, &c. .. .. 5 Depreciation on assets .. .. 10 Freight . . .. .. .. 2 Insurance .. .. .. 8 Bent, repairs, &c. .. .. .. 104 Salary .. .. .. .. 35 Sundry expenses .. .. .. 10 Travelling-expenses .. .. 10 — 260 Grants (subject to separate approval of Board) — Educational scholarships and assistance .. .. .. .. 750 Ethnological: Publishing .. .. 300 — 1,050 Balance available for miscellaneous grants, publishing, or reserve .. . . .. 370 £1,680 £1,680

Approximate Cost of Paper.—Preparation, not given ; printing (460 copies), £2 10s.

By Authority: E. V. Paul, Government Printer, Wellington.—l 943. Price 3d.]

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