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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 8, Issue 5 (September 1, 1933)

“Ostracised”?

“Ostracised”?

A young New Zealander, resident in Australia, has written a novel in which the theme is the problem of a half-caste girl—of course she is called “Ngaire”! —who is educated above the standards of Maori village life and handicapped by pakeha prejudice from entering “white” life, except as an inferior.
Mechanical gold-winning on the West Coast of the South Island. The powerful Rimu dredge at work near Hokitika.

Mechanical gold-winning on the West Coast of the South Island. The powerful Rimu dredge at work near Hokitika.

Wherever did the author get his facts and his outlook? The impression he gives is that the Maoris are a decadent, dying race. He should give his native land a look-in again; he would discover that the facts are very much otherwise. As for the alleged prejudice against the blend of pakeha-Maori blood, it is non-existent except among the very ignorant, whose opinions do not matter. Half-castes have held, and hold, some of the highest positions in the land, and are to be found in all the professions and the Public Service. A girl musician of Maori and pakeha birth was received by Royalty in London a few months ago. The Governor-General, Lord Bledisloe, like many other cultured people who have come to New Zealand, shows by his speeches his high appreciation of Maori and half-caste mentality and the artistic genius of the race. The Maori element in New Zealand's population is bound to increase with education: intermarriage is increasing. No one with any knowledge of our Maori friends and fellow-New Zealanders attempts to put them on a lower social plane than the pakeha.