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Salient: Victoria University Students' Paper. Vol. 27, No. 13. 1964.

Rata Comes To Campus

page 3

Rata Comes To Campus

Mr. Matiu Rata, Northern Maori MP, addressed a small gathering of Maori Club members in the Common Rooms last term. In doing so he had, in a sense, made history of sorts, by being to my knowledge the first Maori member of Parliament with a genuine desire to meet Maori Students. Our invitation to him was unusual in that it was at his request.

On the Maori Seats

The abolition of the seats should be decided by the Maori people, and by no one else. If they jeopardised racial harmony then they should be dispensed with;—but evidence was needed to prove this—so far as could be ascertained none was available.

One of the most unfair arguments against the Maori seats was that there were "only 48,000" or so Maori voters. Electorates were created on the basis of the whole population and not on the number of electors.

They tended to be far too much politicking instead of concentrating on the needs of the Maori. Labour politicked because it had the seats, National because it did not.

One member present at the meeting stated that the presence of separate representation created confusion over integration and wondered whether the four present MP's were Justifying their position. Could not the Maori form a feasible pressure group in an integrated electorate? Rata's reply was again that far too much attention was being paid to the existence of the seats instead of to the problems of the Maori people.

As far as he was concerned there could in fact be a case for more Maori seats. While it was pleasing to see Maoris succeeding in local body elections, it was grossly unfair to expect them to represent only the Maori race. They as members of borough and or city councils were there as representatives of a number of varying interests—especially those of ratepayers and business houses. In the case of a Maori representing an integrated electorate, he felt that the same difficulties would accrue.

Then again, if there was sincerity in the claim for integrated electorates, then he would only be convinced if Maoris who stood, were successful during the elections. If this were so would then there be a case for the abolition of separate representation. Such abolition could only take place after Maoris proved successful in integrated electorates. At present he felt that it would be difficult to convince Maoris that the seats needed doing away with because they felt that this would make the future uncertain.

With regard to the statement 'religion has played too big a part in politics" Mr. Rata replied "Yes, look at the state aid to private schools." Religion always had played its part in politics. It had been said that he owed his political success to his membership of the Ratana Church, however he insisted that the majority of the voters in his electorate were non-Ratana.

If the seats were definitely removed, then this should be the last act in the name of integration. There were after all other "Maori" organisations which were also set up in the interest of the Maori people. What would the protaganists of integration do about "Maori" Affairs?, and what about the "Maori" Education Foundation? If the argument for their being continued was that they were a vital necessity, then he would use the same argument for separate Parliamentary representation.

With regard to the question as to whether the members were justifying their seats—he expounded the maxim "that a member was only as strong as the people behind him." In his opinion Maoris talked a lot but appeared to do little. Politically of course, the pakeha was better positioned because of organisations such as rate-payers association, Farmers Federation etc., although Maoris could join these groups the fact remained that they did not.

By Kuki Kaa

There was an occasion when he stated publicly that the Maori was very poor at letter writing. Ever since, he has been receiving a steady stream of letters from his constituents. "Perhaps", he concluded "a little occasional criticism of our people is not unwarranted."

He was concerned that of those who criticised the present Maori representatives, many had changed to the European roll. It may well be that Maori members had in years past not done as much as they could have but things are beginning to move now. Nearly 20,000 Maoris had changed to European electoral roll, because they were not satisfied with the "status quo." If this was true then their defection would only maintain the status quo, and showed too that they were only running away from the problem.

Perhaps in the near future the more (economically) advanced Maoris would be in a better position to view it.

Maori Battalion

He was not in favour of a separate Maori Battalion on the grounds that "We have enough problems without having to add a military one too." Apparently an argument advanced for it was that it would keep young Maoris out of trouble because of the discipline etc—"Well what's wrong with the present Army?" This seemed a poor excuse for it,—the only thing he could say in favour of it was the feeling of racial pride that would emerge.

"Besides" he argued, "the NZ Army in Malaya had a great reputation, partly because it was an integrated unit."

Maori Schools

The severe criticism of these schools because of the "discriminatory" nature was unjustified.

A "Maori" school was termed such if it was administered by the Department of Education. This allowed them to employ "junior assistants." At the primary level, in order to overcome the teacher shortage. "Maori" schools only existed in rural areas with a dominant population of Maoris. All that had in effect happened when the word "Maori" was removed was that the administration was taken over by one of the Education Boards. The population of the schools was still dominantly Maori, "so where did the so-called discrimination come in the first place?"

The mixing of Maori and Pakeha in any school was a good idea—but if the population was say 90 per cent Maori as was the case in many North Auckland schools merely dropping the word Maori would not improve the situation. ("A rose by an other name . . . Rapid integration of schools was therefore only practicable in the urban areas. Although St. Stephen's Boarding School in Bombay (Auckland) was a "Maori" School approximately one-third of its roll was pakeha.

Referring to the creation of a separate "Maori" school in Pukekohe, he said that both sides were at fault here, and there had been genuine regret at the enforced separation which this had entailed.

At the conclusion of the meeting the one thing that had impressed me was the speaker's obvious sincerity. He does not speak English well but he does think well (a quality so rare amongst politicians these days).

Another unusual feature was the absence of party platform. There was no "Labour party this" and "Labour party that." The opinions were his own and he was not afraid to say what he thought.

Not since 1943 has there been a Maori in Parliament who could be classified as a "near independant." Rata could well be in this category, a welcome ray of hope emerging from the nimbus of party politics.