G—9

1948 NEW ZEALAND

DEPARTMENT OF MAORI AFFAIRS ANNUAL REPORT OF THE UNDER-SECRETARY FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31st MARCH, 1948

Laid on the Table of the House of Representatives by Leave

The Under-Secretary, Department of Maori Affairs, to the Right Hon. the Minister of Maori Affairs. Department of Maori Affairs, Wellington, 21st July, 1948. Sir, — I have the honour to present the annual report covering the general activities of this Department for the year ended 31st March, 1948. Departmental operations such as Maori Land Development, Maori housing, horticulture, and the rehabilitation of Maori ex-servicemen are dealt with in a special report submitted by the Board of Maori Affairs. I have, &c., G. P. Shepherd, Under-Secretary and Maori Trustee. The Right Hon. P. Fraser, Minister of Maori Affairs.

GENERAL The administrative policy of the Department is directed to the general welfare and well-being of the Maori people, and to this end a wide diversity of matters has been dealt with in giving practical effect to that policy. Close co-operation with other Government Departments concerned with general social and economic life has been maintained for the purpose of advancing particular phases of administrative work relating to Maori Affairs. The administration has concentrated upon the amelioration of present livingconditions and the improvement of the general standard of living of the Maori race upon the ground that a good home is the source of all social progress. While endeavouring to consolidate the progress already made in that direction, the Department has also placed its services and those of its individual officers at the disposal of the Maori people in order to promote the welfare of the race whose interests are bound up inextricably with the life of the nation of which they form an integral part and in which they are invited to share in the fullest possible measure. One of the most important instruments in this respect is the welfare whose activities and progress are dealt with later in this report.