THE MAORI PROBLEM AND SOCIALISTS by P. Piesse (Christchurch)
The position of the Maori people in New Zealand society is fast becoming of increasing concern to Socialists. There is a tendency for the Maoris to move, at an increasingly rapid rate, from the rural areas, where for generations they have been leading a semi-communal existence, to the towns, When they arrive, they are not socially or academically educated for a commercial and urban way of life. Thus they inevitably converge e almost as an entire race - into the working class, Nor do they usually enter the ranks of the proletariat as tradesmen, or with any real industrial skills, but they come as unskilled labourers.
Receiving, generally,the lowest wage rates, they can afford only the cheapest housing. This indicates a tendency, which, while not yet pronouns ced, is still perceptible toward "ghettoisation". The Labour Party's solution for this problem is the de-centralisation of industry, it being the intention to provide employment for the Maoris in the countryside, so that they do not have to move to the towns to find jobs. Such a solution is, however, impractical, not merely because it would consolidate the present isolation of the Maori in New Zealand and reinforce his social separateness as a race, but also on economic grounds. Such small, decemtralised industries could not conceivably operate on the economies of a scale to make them ones mt, whether they be capitalist or socialised = and it is not likely that Labour Party is envisaging the latter.
The Maori «does not desire assimilation or isolation, and he is justifiably suspicious of exactly what the Pakeha (Baropaany means by integration. The Maori wants to retain his identity, traditions, and culture, and yet be the equal in all respects of the Pakeha. A capitalist society is unable to accomodate this.