To-day

Te Ao Hou, Winter 1952, Page 23

To-day Thus the Maori Social and Economic Advancement act was passed in 1945. Outwardly this Bill is much like the earlier one; it confers a limited measure of self-government upon organised Maori communities. However, there is a great difference between the Maori councils and the committees which are now given statutory powers. First of all the tribal executive is no longer primarily a local body, like the councils, it is no more than an administrative unit, instituted for the sake of convenience. Many of the tribal committees, in towns and cities, are also mainly administrative, as Pakeha and Maori have intermingled to such an extent that many Maoris no longer live in the Maori villages. This means that the broader aspects of social and economic advancement are likely to interest a tribal committee, or executive, more than they did a Maori Council, which was primarily concerned with local body problems. The most important advance in the new Act is, of course, that subsidies are now granted and travelling expenses of members (Continued on page 46)