GOVERNMENT'S PART

The Government will do its part. We will do all in our power to promote more education and vocational training for the Maori people. We will do all in our power to carry out more energetic programmes in housing and land development. All these measures will in turn, I am sure, help solve some of the other problems and generally lead to better race relations.

THE PEOPLE'S PART

But this is not a matter for Government alone. It is up to us all, Government, Pakeha people and Maori people, to ensure that, hand in hand with urbanisation of the Maori, we do not allow an unhealthy race consciousness to develop on either side, and so divide our people. It need not. It must not. But it will take an effort on the part of all of us to avoid it. The Pakeha people, as the majority people, can do much.

A ‘FAIR GO’ FOR THE MAORI

City life is full of pitfalls for young Maori people. They are cut off from their ancient roots and it is a strange experience. And yet they must increasingly come to the city. I appeal to the Pakeha people to welcome them into your midst. Offer them board and lodging. Extend them the hospitality of your homes. Be friends with them. Help them to get the best jobs for which they are qualified. I appeal to the Pakeha people, in short, to see that the Maori people get a “fair go”. In time of war, they proved themselves worthy of it: and you will find in them a most rewarding response.

THE WAR

Many of us had the privilege of serving overseas during the war in the same brigade as the Maori Battalion. I was with the Maori Battalion in the final stages of their magnificent break-through at Minquar Qaim, in the Western Desert. I will never forget it.

SHARING FRUITS OF PEACE

I know from first hand experience that together, Maori and Pakeha shared the dangers of war. I am determined to ensure that on the home front there is joint participation in the fruits of peace.

TWO WAYS OF BECOMING ONE

Two ways of life are becoming one. And wherever two different ways come into contact, there must be two-way give and take. We have a duty to see that there is a true merging of the two peoples, not a submerging of the minority people. This is an obligation to which, I affirm, we are committed by history and destiny. In a world torn by great differences between racial groups, New Zealand affords an example of the progressive blending of two races.

In the blending of our cultures, the Maori people have much to contribute—certainly not less than the Scots, the Irish, and the Welsh—to the composition of the British people. Not the least of the Maori contribution may be something of the spirit of kindliness, courtesy and tolerance, so necessary in a world tending to be dominated by the current standard of material gain. It is up to both Maori and Pakeha to ensure that our relationship remains based on the principles of justice, equality and racial harmony, the seeds of which were sown here 121 years ago. I repeat what Captain Hobson said to each chief: He iwi kotahi tatou.

A NEW MIGRATION

To the Maori people I say: when the great canoes first set out over the oceans of discovery, nature was your only challenge. The seas and the seasons were your foe and your friend. You were guided by traditions and the stars. Now you are no longer alone. You must calculate your position not only by the stars. You live with other men of the twentieth century. You must sail abreast of the other peoples of the Pacific and the near north. I would say, then: prepare the canoes for another migration as adventurous as the last. But this time, let us build a new canoe to lead the fleet—a canoe called Aotearoa, the New Zealand canoe. How

better could we mark this historic day, our first official New Zealand Day!

The motive power is education. Hoist the sails to catch the winds of change and increase the pace.

CONSULT MAORIS

I look forward to consultation with the Maori leaders about the course and speed of the canoe on their great voyage into the future. In particular, we will confer together on the setting up of a Maori Tribal Council so that the leaders of the people may have a forum for discussion at national level and a channel of communication with the Government. I trust that the Maori people will co-operate with me whole-heartedly in safeguarding and advancing their best interests, as I can assure them that the Government has their best interests at heart.

On this, the first occasion on which we celebrate Waitangi Day as New Zealand's National Day, we dedicate ourselves to the task of facilitating the advance of the Maori people as citizens of New Zealand so that two ways of life can become one.

As this is now our clear objective, not only the Maori but also the Pakeha must be guided by those celebrated words of that great soldier and scholar of the Maori people. Sir Peter Buck:

Ka pu te ruha: ka hao te rangatahi.
The old net is cast aside: the new net goes a-fishing.