G.-9

1944 NEW ZEALAND

NATIVE DEPARTMENT ANNUAL REPORT OF THE UNDER-SECRETARY FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31st MARCH, 1944

Laid on the Table of the House of Representatives by Learn

The Under-Secretary, Native Department, to the Hon. the Minister of Native Affairs. Native Department, Wellington, 31st July, 1944. Sir, — ... I have the honour to present herewith the annual report upon the activities of the Department, excluding Native-land development and Native housing, which are dealt with in a separate report submitted by the Board of Native Affairs. The report covers the financial year ended 31st March, 1944. I have, &c., G. P. Shepherd, Under-Secretary and Native Trustee. The Hon. the Minister of Native Affairs.

GENERAL To appreciate the specialized nature of Native administration in New Zealand and the manifold responsibilities arising out of it which to-day devolve upon the State, it is necessary to look back to their origin in 1840 when the compact known as the Treaty of Waitangi was entered into by the representatives of the Sovereign of Great Britain and a large number of the Maori chiefs. By that treaty, which lias been described as the Magna Carta of the Maoris," rights and powers of sovereignty were ceded to the British Crown without reservation, while the chiefs were promised the full exclusive and undisturbed possession of their lands, &c., so long as they desired to retain the same in their possession. A survey to-day of the relations between pakeha and Maori would emphasize the latter s growing sense of responsibility and their desire to shoulder the burdens and share the privileges of the country's affairs. Indeed, the Maori has progressed to that point where he looks at the future with a full realization of the share which he _ must take in the growth of the Dominion's prosperity. The keynote of Native administration is the stimulation of the Maori mind so as to encourage him to do things for himself so that he may become a self-supporting member of the community, alike' a credit to his race and to New Zealand. The early estimation of the Maori as a liability has gradually been modified until to-day he is regarded as an asset of value. _ ,T , ■ , , The continuation of the story of the growth and the sociological import of Wative-iana development and settlement and the provision of houses, as well as the new problem of rehabilitation of discharged Maori servicemen, is recorded in another parliamentary paper, G.-10, in a statement by the Native Minister. The report of the Maori Purposes Fund Board, having as its object the promotion of the health, education, and social and economic welfare of the Maoris and the preservation of Maori arts, crafts, literature, and language, is in parliamentary paper G.-11. _ ] Generally, however, the Government's policy in relation to the Maori people embraces the promotion of the welfare, self-sufficiency, happiness, and prosperity of the whole race; its advancement ethically, socially, and educationally; the improvement the health of its members both individually and as a race; its vocational and industrial training; its economic establishment; and its fullest absorption into the citizenship of New Zealand on an equality in all respects with the pakeha. The above-mentioned humanitarian activities, with the exception of the technical administration of health and education, which are undertaken by the relative State Departments, are given effect to through the machinery of the Native Department.