Other Organisations join the Council

The Council knew that it could not work in isolation when it discussed the everyday social problems of our people, so it invited the Dominion Executive of the Maori Women's Welfare League, representatives of the Maori Women's Health League and a group of Welfare Officers from the Department of Maori Affairs to join in its deliberations. Experts from several different fields also attended. The whole seminar was financed by grants from various Trust Boards, both Maori and Pakeha, the main contributions coming from the McKenzie Trust and the Maori Purposes Fund Board.

So that everyone could add their contribution to the discussion the seminar spent much of its time in groups of eight or nine members. The views of each group were then considered in full session, and the decisions sent on to the Council were the result of much careful thought and strenuous argument. The seminar had been planned to allow as much time as possible for discussion and the members made full use of every minute. They were also free to follow up any points that they themselves thought important and, from remarks made at the final meeting, the Council's aims seem to have been successfully achieved.

It turned out that the subject that received the most attention was education. Many of the recommendations that were passed related to one or other aspects of this subject.

Educating Parents

It was decided that much greater effort was needed to make parents aware of the part that they play in the education of their children. This is recognised as one of the great needs throughout New Zealand and not only amongst Maoris. A special scheme for parent education is to be prepared jointly by the Council, the Women's Leagues, Adult Education authorities and the Maori Education Foundation.

It was also decided that Maori Committees and Leagues should be as active as possible in encouraging Maori mothers and fathers to take an interest in their children's education by joining in Parent-Teacher Associations or accepting positions on School Committees. Members of the seminar thought that this would be of benefit to the schools as much as to the parents and the children.

Following on from educational needs the seminar thought that more should be done in the way of vocational guidance for our young people. They need to be better prepared for the difficulties that they will face when they start work in factories or offices and when they have to live away from home. While the work of the Vocational Guidance Officers is greatly appreciated, there seems to be a need for a more varied approach on the part of the authorities providing this useful service if it is to have the result of getting our youngsters into the jobs that are best suited to them.

Moving to the Towns

Rather like the problem of leaving school and finding a job is the problem of the family that shifts from the country into the town. The Council members and others attending the seminar felt that those of you already living in the towns could do a great deal to help newcomers to settle down happily to city life. This is work that Maori Committees in the cities could do, as, indeed, some of them are already doing. We are sure that the Department of Maori Affairs would be glad to work along with any Committee that undertakes to help new arrivals who often find city life strange and difficult for a start.

Altogether the seminar passed forty-nine recommendations for the Council to work on. Some of them can be put into effect with little difficulty. Others will provide us with plenty of work for the months to come. District Councils, Executives and Committees throughout the country will have the opportunity to follow up the seminar recommendations if they find them acceptable.

This first Council seminar was confined to one major subject—Maori social progress, the direction it is taking and the snags that delay it. There are, of course, many other questions that need to be examined in the same careful way, land problems being one of the most obvious. It will be up to the new Council, which will be chosen following the re-election of Maori Committees in February, to carry on the work so ably started by the 24 members at present serving on the Council.

Term of present Council ending

The last meeting of this first New Zealand Maori Council will be held in Rotorua in March. It will be a public meeting where anyone may present matters for the Council's consideration. At this meeting the President will make a report on the Council's work from the time of its inception so that all may see what has been accomplished and what remains to be done. It takes time, of course, for a body such as the N.Z. Maori Council to establish itself firmly, but we believe that a sure foundation has been laid and that future Councils will be able to build on it successfully.

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Ruahina Edwards, who is ten years old and lives in Wanganui, was most excited to learn recently that she had won a trip to Noumea for two, with £50 spending money thrown in. Ruahina won the trip in a New Zealand-wide essay competition held in conjunction with the show ‘South Sea Island Festival 1963’, which visited many districts last year. The subject of the essay was ‘Why I want to go to Noumea’. There were 80 entries, many of them written by adults.

Ruahina explained in her essay that she would like the trip so that she could give her mother a holiday (her mother, Mrs H. R. Edwards, is a teacher at Durie Hill School). She is thrilled that now she will be able to do so. They hope to go in the May school holidays; it will be the first time that either of them has been overseas.