Conclusion

The question of whether or not the Maori people and those of other ethnic backgrounds want to police the streets, patrol the cell blocks or sit in judgement of others cannot be answered here. They will decide that for themselves. Certainly it would be understandable if they were reluctant to fill these positions until such time as they have had an opportunity to participate equally in the restructuring of the judicial and penal systems of New Zealand. They could only otherwise be Maoris playing a pakeha role in a pakeha system. But it is quite clear that in the short term at least those administering justice must modify staff selection policies to enable Maoris and Polynesians to participate in the present system if they wish to. This will necessarily entail abandoning pakeha-oriented educational, I.Q. and other barriers for Maori and Polynesian applicants and replacing them with whatever requirements the Maori and Polynesian people themselves feel are appropriate. A small step would then have been taken toward that equality which pakehas have for so long deceived themselves that all New Zealanders enjoy.