WHAT IS A MAORI?

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Volume 58, Issue 205, 30 September 1929, Page 8

WHAT IS A MAORI?

RUGBY UNION'S NEW DEFINITION. PROMINENT PLAYERS AFFECTED' Tbe question has been raised as to wbetlier some players wlio have been included in Maori Rugby football teams are entitled to play as natives. In the recent match . for the Prince of Wales Cup, wliich is specially set apart for the Maori race, tWi> memhers of one side had the appearance of being pakehas, but there was no doubt about their qualifications as descend^nts of the Maori race. In future there will be a definite rule regarding the eligibility of players for Maori teams. The New Zealand Rugby Union' s Management Committee has oonsidered the matter, and has decided that the definition given in the Native Land Act, 1909, is to rtpply. This is as follows: "Native" means a person belonging to the aboriginal race of New Zealand, and Includes a halfcaste and a person intermediate in blood between balf-castes and persons of pure descent from that race. This ruling will mean the eliniination of several well-known players from Maori teams. J. Mill. of Wairarapa, and R. Bell. captain of the Southland team, are two players of note who can tio longer play as Maori Rugbv renresentatives. and two otliers are F. Fuller (Wairarapa) and W. Robinson (Taranaki), who played in the recent Prince of Wales Cup-game,