Maori loyalty
‘‘THE Loyalty of the Maoris’’ is the subject of an article in the leader column of the Daily Telegraph (London), the outcome of the presentation to Major H. R. Vercoe, D.S.O., D.C.M., of the gold medal sent him recently by two Maori tribes of Rotorua. The writer deals at length with the early history of New Zealand, giving due credit to the work of Sir George Grey, Bishop Selwyn, and Sir William Martin. Grey received small encouragement from Home, ‘‘where, indeed, they hardly understood the problems with which he was in immediate contact. He saw clearly enough that in the development of Great Britain it was no longer possible to regard colonies as mere possessions to be utilised and exploited, the proper point of view was to look at them as imperfect communities, which had to be encouraged on the path of independence and autonomy. Grey’s theory was to trust the people, and both in New Zealand and in South Africa he did his best to show that his theory was right. In the present war we have discovered how splendid are the fruits of a large aid liberal colonial policy. From all the lands washed by the Seven Seas have come soldiers ready to take their part in the great crusade of liberty and independence, and not the least valiant of those who have sprung to arms in support of Great Britain and its Great White King have been the Maoris. Stout and valiant and loyal, they have recognised to the full all that they owe to an English sense of justice and fair play, and they have not been slow to realise the value of the protection which has been accorded to them for the full development of their own faiths and ideas’’.