Te Arataki-ki-ngā-Mahi mō te rangatahi Māori (2): H.C. McQueen rāua ko K.T. Harawira

He tohunga ki te rangahau ā-mātauranga a Henry Charles McQueen, nāna i whakarite me pēhea te arataki-ki-ngā-mahi mō te rangatahi Māori e mahia ai.  Ko Kahi Takimoana Harawira te Māori tuatahi hei āpiha arataki-ki-ngā-mahi, nāna te kaupapa i whakatinana, engari i runga i whakaaro Māori hei painga mō te iwi Māori.  He titiro whānui te mahi a te Pākehā nei, he mahi-tahi me te iwi Māori te mahi a te Māori nei, nā reira, he āhua rerekē ō rātou tūmanako mō ngā taiohi Māori i ngā tau e whai ana i te Pakanga Tuarua.

H.C. McQueen

He kaiako hangarau a McQueen i mua, ā, ka tahuri ia ki te whakawhanake, ki te whakanui i te kaupapa arataki-ki-ngā-mahi ki Niu Tireni nei.  Hei āpiha rangahau o te New Zealand Council for Educational Research, i whakaputa ia i ngā pukapuka e rua mō te arataki-ki-ngā-mahi.  I te tau 1946, nā tōna tohungatanga i whakatūria ai ia e te kāwanatanga hei komihana mō ngā tauira mahi-ā-ringa (commissioner for apprenticeships) i roto i te Tari Mahi.

I puta mai tāna pukapuka tuarua, ko Vocations for Maori Youth, i te tau 1945. Nā, i meatia i roto i te kōrero tuatahi ka tonoa a McQueen e te NZCER kia kimihia te pūtake o te kore-mahi o ngā rangatahi Māori, ā, me pēhea e whakatikatia ai.  Ko āna mahi te tumu o te rangahau ā-hapori, ā-mātauranga mō te kaupapa nei, ā, ka whāia kahatia ōna whakaaro i ngā tau o muri mai.

He āhua whai kiko ngā whakautu a McQueen, kāore he tautohetohe kia tutuki pai āna i mea ai.  Arā, i āki ia kia whakatūria he Māori hei āpiha arataki-ki-ngā-mahi, ā, kia oti pū te kuranga tuarua i ngā tamariki Māori kia uru ngāwari ai rātou ki roto ki te hunga kaimahi.

He raruraru pea kei roto i āna tuhinga.  I te tau 1946, ka aromatawaitia tāna pukapuka e te Otago Daily Times. E kīa ana, “Mr McQueen has examined the background of the Maori people carefully and with commendable detachment. He is at times critical of Maori traits and characteristics, and it is possible that his remarks may arouse some of the oversensitive national pride to which the Maori is prone but he does so in no harmful spirit”.

Pērā me ētahi o ēnei tū tuhinga, ka whakapaea e McQueen ngā momo “āhuatanga” o te iwi Māori.    Ki a McQueen, ka matea te arataki-ki-ngā-mahi mō ngā taiohi Māori hei whakatika i te “raruraru Māori”.

K.T. Harawira

Nō Te Aupōuri a Kahi Takimoana Harawira, he tama o mua nō Te Aute.  I te wā o te Pakanga Tuatahi, he haihana-meiha nō te Hokowhitu a Tū  (Maori Pioneer Battalion).  Ka mutu taua whawhai, ka whakangungutia ia hei minita Mihingare, ā, i Tīhema 1920 i whakaminitatia ai ia.  I Taranaki, i Te Rohe Pōtae hoki ōna pāriha.

E toru ōna tau hei minita o te Ope Māori (28^th Māori Battalion) i te Pakanga Tuarua.  Ka hoki mai ia ki Aotearoa, he kaitono ia mō te tūru pāremata o te Tai Tokerau, arā, hei tangata Reipa Motuhake, engari, ka piro. Ā, i te tau 1950, ka whakaputaina e ia tāna pukapuka ako-reo, ko Teach Yourself Maori. 

I muri i te pōtitanga, ko ia te Māori tuatahi i whakatūria hei āpiha arataki-ki-ngā-mahi.   Ko ia hoki te rangatira o te wāhanga Māori o te Pokapū Arataki-ki-ngā-Mahi o Ākarana, ā, i ētahi wā, ka tū ia ki te whakahē i te kaikiri o te iwi Pākehā.   I te tau 1944, ka whakapuaki ia, i a ia e mahi ana i te arataki-ki-ngā-mahi, “he had observed more alarming signs of the colour bar at the present time than after the last war, in which he also served”, ā, he tino uaua “to place young Maoris in the jobs for which they were most qualified.”

Hei āpiha, ka tino aro ia ki te kaupapa Māori. I te tau 1954, ka tuhia e ia he ātikara reo-rua mō Te Ao Hou i whakamāramatia ai āna mahi arataki-ki-ngā-mahi.

I kī ia, ko tāna he mahi tahi me te whānau me te iwi, kia ārahina te rangatahi ki tōna karangatanga, “kia whiwhi ai [rātou] ki nga mahi e tika ana ma tena ma tena o ratou, nga mea tane me nga mea wahine, kia kaua ai hoki e maumauria te matauranga kua riro mai nei i a ratou.”

Arā, “Ka ta matou mahi he korero ki nga tamariki e tata ana te mutu te kura, whakaatu ki a ratou i nga mahi e tika ana ma ratou, he whakautu hoki i a ratou patai.”

Ki a Harawira, ehara te rangatahi Māori i te “raruraru”, engari, he nui te māiatanga kia whakatinanatia e te arataki-ki-ngā-mahi.  Ko tāna karanga atu, “Tamariki ma, ko koutou te iwi Maori mo nga ra kei te haere mai, ma koutou e arahi te iwi. Na reira, Maranga, Whitiki, Whakatangata kia kaha. He ao whakataetae tenei. Ma te matauranga, ma te manawanui, ma te whakapono me te mahi, ka pumau ai te ora mo te tangata, mo te iwi ano hoki, ora tinana ora Wairua. Ma te ora o nga taha e rua ka kore ai e titaha te haere, ka paoho ai ano hoki te reo koa te reo hari ki o tatou marae.”

I whakaae tahitia ētahi tikanga e McQueen rāua ko Harawira; he rite ō rāua whakaaro mō te hira o te kuranga tuarua kia kaua ngā taiohi Māori e noho kore-mahi.  Engari, ka whakanui a McQueen i ngā mahi ahuwhenua, engari, ka titiro whānui a Harawira ki ara kē, hei tauira ki ngā mahi kaiako, tari, nēhi hoki mō ngā taitamāhine.

Tekau mā rua ngā tau o Harawira hei āpiha arataki-ki-ngā-mahi. He āhua rerekē pea ōna moemoeā, ōna wawata ki ō McQueen mō te arataki-ki-ngā-mahi mō te iwi Māori.  I te kimi a McQueen i te whakautu mō te “raruraru Māori”, engari, ki a Harawira, ko te mātauranga te huarahi e tutuki nei ngā tūmanako Māori.  Kua tū ia hei minita o te Ope Māori, ā, kua kite i ngā tini rangatira kua moumouhia; nā reira i whakaaro ai ia, mā tēnei huarahi o te mātauranga e puta mai ai he reanga hou hei ārahi i te iwi Māori.

Whakaahua: Te Ao Hou, 9 (Koanga 1954): 10.