Chronology for 1938-1971
Assimilating into universal welfare
Labour’s policies were underpinned by a principle of universality and a vision of the nation as a classless community. Rich, middle-class and poor were linked by the same national system of state support and social services; superannuation, however small, was to be available to every aged person who was not already on another benefit and was an important symbol of citizenship. The ‘system as a whole was removed from ‘the taint of charity’ and became a source of national pride’.[i] go to footnote
This was a period of great demographic change for iwi Māori with the mass migration of its rural population to the cities of New Zealand. The need for workers in essential industries and the post-war labour boom provided rangatahi and whānau Māori with ample employment, 'incomes that were almost equal to those of Pākehā, and access to family welfare benefits that boosted the incomes of large families by around 50 percent.'[ii] go to footnote However, the financial rewards were offset by one or both parents working long hours to cover the costs of city living and it exposed Māori to discrimination. The Department of Māori Affairs played a welfare role in the lives of whānau Māori during this period, with a policy of integrating Māori into the social fabric of ‘mainstream’ New Zealand society. Through housing allocation policies attempts were made to pepper pot Māori in Pākehā suburban streets.[iii] go to footnote Young Māori women who moved to the cities for essential industry work or single rangatahi simply moving to the city for work opportunities were directed into hostels.
Before the 1950s, child welfare agencies endeavoured to keep Māori children with their families or in their own tribal area.[iv] go to footnote In the 1950s, Māori became a disproportionate minority in all areas of child welfare work with a steady growth in Māori juvenile delinquency with recorded Māori offending at three or four times the rate of Pākehā, particularly in the 15–20 age.[v] go to footnote
Chronology events
Displaying 31 - 40 of 64 events.
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National Committee on Māori Education
The Minister of Education appointed a National Committee on Māori Education (with majority Māori membership), which agreed there should be one system of State schooling for both Māori and Pākehā. The Committee was reconstituted as the National Advisory Com…
Date: 1955 Period: 1938-1971 -
First national directory of social services
Department of Māori Affairs published the first, and perhaps only, national directory of social services. The directory was considered incomplete but still included the details of some 360 voluntary organisations, as well as hospital boards and most govern…
Date: 1957 Period: 1938-1971 -
New Zealand Māori Wardens Association (NZMWA) inaugural meeting
The meeting was held at Rotorua early in December 1957. By the end of 1957 there were 376 Māori wardens who had been appointed through tribal committees.[i]
Date: 1957 Period: 1938-1971 -
Family benefit capitalisation introduced
Walter Nash initiated the capitalisation of family benefits in 1958 by allowing all of each child’s benefit to be paid in advance in a lump sum if this was used either for the purchase of a new house or for necessary additions to a house the family was alr…
Date: 1958 Period: 1938-1971 -
The first permanent social welfare officers
The officers began working for the Department of Social Security.[i]
Date: 1958 Period: 1938-1971 -
Māori Urban relocation programme
Introduced by the Department of Māori Affairs and consistent with the Hunn report which welcomed Māori urban migration as the quickest way of integrating Māori into Pākehā ways of life.
Date: 1960 Period: 1938-1971 -
Board of Health’s Māori Health Committee
Established as a result of R.J. Rose’s Maori-European Standards of Health report, the Board met for the first time on 25 January 1961.[i]
Date: 1961 Period: 1938-1971 -
Hunn Report published
This report on the Department of Maori Affairs - The Hunn Report, named for its author Jack Hunn - examined the social and economic circumstances of the Māori people. It analysed three specific trends for which Hunn said future policy should account: the …
Date: 1961 Period: 1938-1971 -
Social Welfare Advisory Board
The Social Welfare Advisory Board was established by the Public Services Commission to co-ordinate State welfare activities and to report on the feasibility of establishing a Department of Social Welfare.
Date: 1961 Period: 1938-1971 -
The Māori Education Foundation Act
Set up after the Hunn report, mainly using Department of Education staff, to lift Māori education standards ‘equal to that of the Pākehā’ by encouraging Māori into secondary and tertiary education.[i]
Date: 1961 Period: 1938-1971
Footnotes
- [i] go to main content Tim Garlick, Social Developments: An organizational history of the Ministry of Social Development and its predecessors, 1860-2011, Steele Roberts Aotearoa, Wellington, 2012, p.70.
- [ii] go to main content Melissa Matutina Williams, Panguru and the City, Bridget Williams Books, Wellington, 2010, p. 195.
- [iii] go to main content Urbanisation – Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand
- [iv] go to main content Bronwyn Dalley, Family Matters, Wellington, 1998, p. 6.
- [v] go to main content Dalley, 1998, p. 192.