94 Maranga Mai! Chapter 7: Tino rangatiratanga Māori and human rights statutory bodies and the media Chapter 7 raises Māori Statutory bodies, the Race Relations Act, the Human Rights Commission, and the historical role of media in racism against Māori and the current housing crisis. These matters were raised in discussions and consultations with Māori while compiling this report and are not as substantial as previous chapters. Nevertheless, each section remains important as a reflection of lived Māori experiences and perspectives on racism in Aotearoa. Māori affairs Māori Land Boards and the Department of Native Affairs The operation of the Native Land Courts established in 1862/1865 created complexities of title, lack of collective access to loan capital, and other problems. Māori owners faced significant difficulties in regaining control of their land. Control then passed to Māori Land Boards, essentially investing decision making in the judge and registrar of Native Land Courts. By the 1950s, the Māori Land Boards controlled the bulk of Māori owned lands and made all decisions on their use (Hill, 2009, p. 29). Successive governments have been quick to praise Māori in times of crisis and to criticise Māori in times of peace. During World War II, iwi rallied and created the Māori War Effort Organisation (MWEO) which operated independently of the government. The MWEO did many things including recruiting Māori into wartime employment, fundraising and communitybased welfare. Iwi ran their affairs autonomously and wanted the government to recognise their self-administration and discipline by replacing the Department of Native Affairs, and Māori Land Boards, with vibrant tribally based committees. These were to operate at community or marae level working with a decentralised new department in charge of Māori Affairs (Hill, 2009, pp. 12-13). Instead, the government placed the MWEO under the Pākehā-led Department of Native Affairs and government control. In addition to the unjust Pākehā control of Māori land, blatant racism from top officials within the department, who encouraged the disappearance of independent Māori organisations and undermined Māori selfdetermination (Hill, 2009, p. 29). The Department of Māori Affairs and the Māori Trustee In 1945, the government passed the Māori Social and Economic Advancement Act. In 1949, the Crown authorised the improvement of more than a quarter of ‘unproductive’ Māori land under the Department of Native Affairs and their Pākehā managers. The proposals meant that Māori owners would have to agree in advance to Department of Māori Affairs operational control, meaning they would again surrender control to Pākehā managers before they could be granted developmental aid. For Māori owners, this would mean another protracted delay in the very long struggle to exercise rangatiratanga over their land in a meaningful way, even if they retained ultimate ownership (Marr, 1997; Hill, 2009, p. 30). In 1950, Apirana Ngata questioned whether the Department of Native Affairs was the best fit to oversee the Act given many within the Department engaged in deliberate obstruction and questioned the appropriateness of Māori projects at every turn. The Department was renamed the Department of Māori Affairs after the passing of the Māori Affairs Act 1954. However, not much changed. Divided into nine regions, Pākehā were the managers of every branch. (Hill, 2009, p. 26).