G—9

A report on the Department's operations in connection with the development and settlement of Native lands, housing activities, rehabilitation of Maori servicemen, and horticultural work is contained in parliamentary paper Gr-10. Staff At the 31st March, 1946, the personnel of the Department, including the seven Judges of the Native Land Court, numbered 586, as compared with 564 at this time in 1945. Details are as follows, the corresponding figure for 1945 being shown in parentheses : Office staff — Total. £ ermanent (2S3)\ (449) Temporary .. .. .. 167 (216) J v ' Field staff — Permanent .. .. .. 18 (18)\ Temporary .. .. .. 113 (97) J" ' The number of officers serving in the Armed Forces has declined from 127 to 51. At the end of the year there were 52 permanent and 75 temporary Maori officers in the Department, making a total of 127, or approximately 22 per cent, of the staff. During the year two of the senior members of the staff, Messrs. H. S. King and P. A. Stubbing, retired on superannuation. Mr. King joined the Department in 1902, and in 1914 he was appointed Registrar of the Native Land Court at Rotorua. In 1920 he became Registrar of the Ikaroa and South Island Districts, and two years later he was appointed Deputy Native Trustee, a position which he held until his retirement. Mr. King's thorough knowledge of the Maori language and his deep understanding of the people were a most valuable asset in his relations with the beneficiaries of the Native Trustee. Mr. Stubbing was first appointed to the Department in 1914 as Clerk and Interpreter in the Gisborne office. He was one of the few Maoris of his time to be qualified as a public accountant, and in 1919 he was appointed Accountant of the Auckland office. He retained this position for twenty-seven years, during which time there was a very considerable expansion in the accounting work of the Department as a result of the widely extended sphere of activities. The rapid growth of the Department's operations of late years, including development, housing, horticultural work, and more extensive Maori welfare work, has tended to throw more and more responsibility on the district offices. To enable the Registrars to cope more effectively with the increased work, provision was made in the Native Purposes Act, 1945, for the appointment of a Deputy Registrar in each district. Authority has also been given for the appointment of District Chief Clerks and District Solicitors. These appointments will also facilitate the decentralization of the Native Trust work, which is referred to under the heading of the Native Trustee. MAORI WELFARE As a result of the passing of the Maori Social and Economic Advancement Act, 1945, Maori welfare operations will be greatly expanded in an endeavour to meet the needs of the Maori people in a changing world. The Act will be administered by the Native Minister, who will have the direction and control of all powers conferred by the Act as part of the Native Department's activities. Piovision is made under that Act for the appointment of a Controller and such other Welfare Officers as may be necessary, who will be officers of the Native Department. The Act provides machinery for the proclamation of tribal districts, in each of which there will be a Tribal Executive Committee consisting of representatives of Tribal Committees, which are to be set up in the various parts of each tribal distiict, appointed, by the Native Minister. The

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