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Tribal. Executives. Committees. (2) Total number of Tribal Committees elected and Tribal Executives formed .. .. 60 370 Executives and Committees approved .. 40 266 Executives and Committees elected and formed but not yet approved .. .. .. 20 104 60 3.70 The Committees as elected are functioning reasonably well, but progress must? necessarily be slow until they acquire a fuller understanding and appreciation of their duties and functions. The Welfare Officer of the district has been appointed to the' Executives and Committees by the Minister as required under the Act, and thus official personal contact is maintained at all times between the Department and the representatives of the Maori people. It is hoped to have the whole Dominion completely organized within the next six months. The foundation will then be laid and the rightful avenue created for the. effective implementation of the policy enunciated and implied in the Maori Social and Economic Advancement Act. Even at this early stage the Maori people are beginning to look upon the organization as their own, to control as a form of self-expression,, direction, and, up to a point as set out in the Act, a measure of local self-government, in matters affecting living-conditions, housing, health, and general welfare. Welfare Zones To obviate overlapping in the duties of Welfare Officers, zones of operations have--been created with a male Welfare Officer in charge of each zone. Female Welfare Officers cover one or more of these zones to assist the male officer in matters affecting the female population and to organize the Maori women into active units of the community to work out local schemes of welfare for the benefit of the women and children. There are twenty-two zones throughout the Dominion. W»rk of Welfare Officers The primary duty of Welfare Officers is to ensure that the tribal organizations set up under the Act are functioning regularly, smoothly, and efficiently, and to the extent that they are so functioning will purposes of the Act be more effectively applied and problems become more easy of solution. The Tribal Executives, the Tribal Committees, and the Welfare Officers must develop proposals and plans for the advancement of the people. They are at liberty to approach all State Departments in mattersaffecting the Welfare of the Maori people ; to assist those Departments or to seek assistance from them. They are not appointed for the purpose of policing the Maori people, but are available to assist the Tribal Committees in their work and to act as the liaison between them and State Departments or those responsible for governmental activities. Much of the work requires the exercise of judgment and plain common-sense and so instructions issued to Welfare Officers covering their activities were of a general nature giving an outline of the policy, aim, objects, and the general activities in the physical,, economic, educational, social, and moral fields of Maori welfare.

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