New Zealand Maori Council releases its early records

Tu Tangata, Issue 2, 1 October 1981, Page 22

New Zealand Maori Council releases its early records

The New Zealand Maori Council has received many requests from students, social historians and the public as to the events surrounding its formation in 1962. Because of this, the council has released for publication some of its early records. The first extracts are speeches delivered at the council’s inaugural meeting by the Secretary of Maori Affairs, Mr J.K. Hunn, in accordance with the enabling legislation and the Minister of Maori Affairs, the Hon. H.R. Hanan. The second extract will be minutes of the inaugural meeting from which will appear the names H.K. Ngata and J.M. Bennett, the only members who have given unbroken service to the council since.

“The establishment of this council ought to be proof enough that the policy of integration ... does not mean obliteration of the Maori race.”

Opening speech by Mr J.K. Hunn Abridged “Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou nga mangai o nga taunihera takiwa o te Tai Tokerau, o Akarana, o WaikatoManiapoto, o Aotea, o Te Tairawhiti, o Ikaroa, me Te Waipounamu. Haere mai kite pane ote ika a Maui. Haere mai kite hui tuatahi ate kaunihera Maori o Niu Tireni. He hui nui whakaharahara tenei. Haere mai, haere mai, haere mai. “I would like first to pay my respectful tribute to the memory of the late Major Te Reiwhati Vercoe. He will be very much in our minds at this inaugural meeting. “Most of us were here last year when he presided over the forerunner of this Council, the provisional meeting convened by the Minister of Maori Affairs. We all know the part he played in initiating the move that has culminated in this meeting today. “No other Maori has served New Zealand as faithfully and long as the late Te Reiwhati. There are not many men of either races who can claim the distinction of having served New Zealand in two wars beginning at the youthful age of 15 years and serving with such distinction as to win a D.C.M. and be mentioned in dispatches at that young age and in the next World War to have won the D.S.O. and be mentioned in dispatches four times. “He was not only an elder of Ngati Pikiao and Te Arawa but he was truly an elder of Te Iwi Maori. We will long honour and respect his memory and treasure the friendship that everyone had the privilege of experiencing with him. “I recall in my short association something which will linger on. I met him quite a number of times and on his own Marae he took the floor against the Minister and myself to question the proposed policy of having land development carried out by the Lands Department. “But, after a strong speech he ended by saying: “However, those are only my views. I may be wrong. If you can show me that I am I will be with you.” “Now what more could anyone ask? In the end I think he was with us but never could we ask more from anybody who doubts the wisdom of what is proposed, than that. “If you can show me I am wrong, I will be with you”. Gentlemen, whatever I might say would be quite inadequate to express our real feelings and so I will at this stage invite you to pay your respects to his memory in whatever way you think appropriate. “Gentlemen, this is your meeting. I am merely a statutory official here, my function is simply, according to the Act, to convene this meeting and to invite you to

elect your President and Secretary but I do wonder on this occasion whether you would grant me the privilege of speaking. “First of all I would like to add my congratulations to the heartfelt good wishes extended by the Council to Sir Alfred Turi Carroll. It is very pleasing indeed that his long service as a soldier, farmer, administrator and elder statesman have been recognised by Her Majesty. It gives pleasure not only to Maoridom but to New Zealand in general. “At the same time I would like to mention Norman Perry and the distinction that has come his way. He has thoroughly deserved it. He has given long and valuable service to the Maori people in many ways. Congratulations to him. “The Maori people today are on the march and this meeting is a milestone on the road of their progress. It is a goal achieved that brings many other goals in sight and with it there is a rising spirit of hope and confidence right throughout Maoridom today. You can sense it; it is a sort of pulsating spirit and manifests itself as you travel around the country. “The campaign for the Maori Education Foundation seems to have fired Maori imagination and rallied them to a common cause as nothing else has for a long time. It is significant of the need that Maoridom has felt for a rallying point. And they now have it in the establishment of this Council, elected democratically from the grass roots to speak for the Maori people with a united voice. “In that campaign for funds the Maori people pulled their weight magnificently. They have contributed at least eight times their proportionate quote on a population basis. A splendid effort. “Maoris are certainly pulling their weight in the progress and development of our country. Maori successes are most heartening and this New Zealand Maori Council can do much to inspire the spirit of emulation among the young people. “To me the emergence of this Council is a very healthy sign. Henceforth the Maori people are committed to think nationally as well as tribally. “Tribal loyalties are still strong and enduring may they always be so because identification with a place or a people is a source of strength but let those loyalties be a tributary to the main stream of national effort on behalf of the Maori people. Maoridom is obliged today to think nationally or even to think internationally. I do believe that this Council will show that it is ready to do so. “There are two points I would like to make before I conclude. One is that some people sincerely doubted the wisdom of establishing this body. “They felt a powerful force was being organised that could become an agent for

obstruction or even reaction, but I am glad to know that the authorities had faith in the Maori desire for progress and cooperation and that in proceeding to establish this Council they showed their confidence in the Maori people.

“I have no doubt that Maoridom through the voice of this Council will be strong for the right, always of course for the right as they see it. In this connection I was very glad indeed last year when the provisional delegates here asked of their own volition that the Draft Bill on the Maori Social and Economic Advancement Amendment Act, 1961 Section 8 include: “(2) Without limiting the generality of the provisions of subsection (1) of this section, it is hereby declared that it shall be a function of the New Zealand Council to consider and, as far as possible, put into effect any harmonious and friendly relations between members of the Maori race and other members of the community.”

“This was an unsolicited and states-man-like request. With that spirit animating the New Zealand Maori Council at the beginning of its life, good race relations in New Zealand are assured if only the same spirit be reciprocated. That puts an onus squarely on the Pakeha section of the community.

“The other point I would like to touch on briefly relates to integration. The establishment of this Council ought to be proof enough that the policy of integration as far as the authorities are concerned does not mean obliteration of the Maori race.

“Integration is different from assimilation which means making everybody the same. Integration means the intermingling of two distinct races, participating together in education, employment, entertainment, transport, social life and all walks of life, but withdrawing now and again according to the tastes of the individual to enjoy each his separate culture the same as we all do in religion, in politics, in our clubs and professional associations.

“I am sure that the passion for sameness that prevails in this country is not so doctrinaire that we want to eliminate all cultural distinctions. Under a policy of integration all races can preserve their identity and contribute to the national identity.

“Heoira, Ake ake kia kaha.”

“There were pockets of resistance; a pessimist might say pockets of racialism, ...”

The speech by the Hon. H.R. Hanan, at the inaugural meeting of the New Zealand Maori Council abridged.

“Chiefs and leaders of the Maori people, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou.

“As I look around this table and realise how many of you I know quite well I realise how worthwhile it has been to get round the maraes where I have met so many of the Maori people.

“As I know most of you, had I been sitting here this morning, I would have been in very grave difficulty in making certain decisions, but, had I been one of you making those decisions I would have been all for electing, as President, Sir Turi Carroll.

“May I say Sir Turi how delighted I am that Her Majesty the Queen has recognised your services to the Maori people and the Pakeha.

“Then when you came to the question of the appointment of a Secretary I would have had real worry and I would have weighed one against the other but I would have come down finally after such soul searching, to Henry Ngata; and sure enough you made him the secretary.

“Then I would have wondered well now you have got to have someone for Associate Secretary from somewhere else to keep the show on the rails a bit and of course my hand would have gone up for Norman Perry as Associate Secretary.

“And then when it came to the Maori Education Foundation it was quite obvious it had to be Sir Turi from your point of view and that saved me the difficulty of considering him as my nominee; and then when I came to the question of appointment to the Maori Health Committee of the Board of Health I had something to do with the legislation setting up the Board of Health I would have had grave difficulty about that, and somehow or other I would have come down on the site of Steve Watene.

“In accord with your Maori custom I must say something of my old friend that I come to love very dearly Major Reiwhati Vercoe. A rangatira of the Maori people in the fullest sense of the term and a very great orator.

“He was the first Maori orator that I really saw in action on the marae at one of our gatherings. Of course, many of you had known him for so much longer than I but in the short space of time that it was vouch-safed me to get to know him I felt that here was a real leader who in other times and in other days might have occupied the most eminent position in Maoridom and in the Pakeha world.

“He was a wonderful man and a wonderful soldier and one of the memories of my experiences with the Maori people will be the last tribute we paid to him on his own marae.

“Now this legislation which we have passed which makes possible the meeting today stems very largely from the dream of Reiwhati Vercoe. Therefore I think the work of this Council over the years will be his lasting memorial and I know you will endeavour to make it a worthwhile one.

“It seems to me that apart from the wars in which you were united with the European people in a common objective, or cause the last two great wars and the Boer War the only thing that has really united the Maori people as one man, has been our Maori Education Foundation.

“Little did we know when we set off from the suggestions in the Hunn report that we would end up with something that was going to unite the Maori people and perhaps draw the Pakeha closer to the Maori than ever before.

“There were pockets of resistance; a pessimist might say pockets of racialism, but they were few and far between and tremendously outweighed by the vast potential of goodwill that has been exhibited to the Maori people in its campaign to raise funds for the Education Foundation.

“Up and down the length and breadth of the Islands the European people have got behind it in every community, large and small it has been amazing.

“Just as the Maori people were united in one objective with the Maori Education Foundation, so this Council is the first time that there has been any assembly to speak for the Maori people as a whole and therefore it is an occasion that will be remembered in the history of the Maori people and in the history of their relations with the Pakeha people. Today is an historic first in the history of the Maori people.

“The Maori people have a magnificent tradition of leadership. The portraits on these walls, Sir James Carroll, your uncle and the colleague of my uncle when they fought and battled in the years that have gone, Te Rangihiroa and then the great Sir Apirana Ngata and of course Sir Maui Pomare. Great men, great leaders.

“As the voice and the shield of the Maori people, in their time, they were as a vine that bound the tribes together. So now are you, the New Zealand Maori Council.

“The Act of 1945 did, of course, lay down the beginnings of a splendid system of community organisation whereby the Maori people in particular districts could look after those things of particular concern to them; they could deal with their local problems and speak as a group, but beyond a certain limit they had no scope.

“The jurisdiction was confined to the level of the tribal executive stage. The only provision made was for district conferences representing two or more tribal executives to be called together at such times and for such purposes as the Minister might think fit.

“That is not consistent with an autonomous body, that is consistent with, ministerial inspiration or dictation, whichever way you like to put it. At the national level there was no provision at all.

“Because of the incompleteness of the organisation, the district councils which had no local administrative functions lost their enthusiasm and became largely ineffective.

“When I became Minister I knew nothing of them at all, they had become so ineffective. Apart from the political channels there was no channel of communication between the Maori people as a whole and Government, and with great respect to all that has been done in the past, I

think that successive Governments were the poorer because the structure was incomplete.

“There is evidence that over the years there was a yearning for something, some national representative organisation.

“It is the Act last year that put the top brick on the structure of Maori organisation and in it I was supported, and I welcomed and appreciated the support, by the four Maori members of Parliament.

“We now have the set-up for a permanent organisation to provide a line of communication from the individual Maori local community through the Tribal Committee to the Tribal Executive and on to the District Council and then to the New Zealand Council and from the New Zealand Council to Government.

“Equally important, the process will operate in reverse from Government down to the grass roots of our democratic structure. It will be basic, of course, to my policy to refer matters that effect the Maori people to the Maori people. I think it would be the wise thing to do and I will get further by so doing. When I can say that I have a unified voice of the Maori people in support of any particular piece of legislation, then its chances of getting through the House will be enormously increased.

“From your point of view, of course, the fact that we have completed the structure to activate and assist the District Councils and Tribal Committees and Executives, will give them some inspiration and may give them some confidence in themselves and faith in their directives.

“It will provide a vehicle for the Maori people to think and act nationally rather than parochially. I hope that Maori leaders are sufficiently realistic to know that that has been to a very large extent the story of the past. Now you have got machinery that will function nationally.

“Gentlemen, I hail this meeting as the dawn of a new day in Maori affairs. The progress we make from now on depends on your deliberations and to what extent you can obtain unanimity on some of the problems of our time.

“You know more about the difficulties involved in land titles than I do; you know more about the difficulties of land development and other matters.

“Now if you can resolve some of those difficulties and give me a united voice and a united opinion, then the chances of legislation are increased enormously and you may be able to achieve in a relatively short time a great deal of progress that a few years ago we thought was beyond us.

“May I close with those words that I will always remember long after I have left the portfolio of Maori Affairs: “Let the red tipped dawn come with the sharpened air, a touch of frost and the promise of a glorious day’’, or to quote one of your proverbs: “Ka pu te Ruha, Ka Hao te Rangatahi’’ “The old net is cast aside, the new net goes a-fishing”. “Kia ora koutou katoa.”