KUMARA PLOTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 26, 1 February 1937, Page 3

KUMARA PLOTS.

MAORIS' FRUGAL LIFE.

HOSPITABLE AND KINDLY. TRANSFORMATION OF SWAMP. Support for the statements made to the Minister of Lands, the Hon. F. Langstone, that the Maoris of Te Hapua. the most northern settlement in New Zealand, were living in deplorable conditions, is offered by Mr. H. K. Vine, of Papatoetoe. who spent ten years of his early life at the settlement, and who revisited the district last month. "The report published in the 'Star' is only too true," writes Mr. Vine. "It is nevertheless pleasant to be able to' say that the To Hapua Maori* still grow kiimaras as well as potatoes very successfully, and in larger quantities than formerly in that same valley at Spirits Bay. about eight miies by load from Te Hapua.'' Mr. Vine, whose father was headmaster of the. school at .Te Hapua from 1!)11 to P. 121. states that the population of Te Hapua is almost entirely M.iori. the exceptions being the schoolteachers and a few Austrian and Dalmation gumfield workers. There was a time when the kauri gum industry provided a livelihood for the populatii.n. The land was quite unsuitable for the cultivation of most crops, being a combination of a vast swamp and bleak, poor hill clay, but the Maoris grew large quantities of kumaras. which they were adept at pitting for preservation, and these, with a grove of iijrs planted by the parly missionaries, provided their only fresh' vegetables and fruit. " Gum Industry Dead." The gum indii-tiy was now practically dead, stated Mr. Vine, and on his recent visit to the district lie had found that the natives were living on kumaras an<l potatoes, iisli and pipis, and what they buy with the meagre earnings on some recently introduced public works. "As evidence of this last. 1 saw a great tr.insformation in the outlook of what used to be n swamp covered in rushes and dense vegetation."' he said. "To-day it is quite bare of miy growing # thiug "and lined in many directions with drains—a great expanse of black flatness. The outcome of it all has not yet become definitely known t> the Maoris who have done the work, the most persistent rumour being that it may possibly be used sometime as an aerodrome for defence purposes. '•Kls(M\ here on the flatter parts of the settlement a great deal of draining has been .lone, with the more apparent object in view of introducing dairy herds When this is done, however, they' can b«i used only as a direct addition to the Maoris' source of food supply (a not unimportant consideration, of course) as there is no dairy factory nearer than V»nipapakauri, a few miles north of AW'Uiui, aid i,,.,ds and freights still prohibit tlio transporting of cream that distance "One-Roomed Shacks." "The charge against the. dwellingplaces of the .Maoris i 8 a i s<( , in mal f cases, no exaggeration. B ut there are some strange paradoxes. When the JJaorie of 17 years ago became aware of my father's interest in their welfare many of them came to him for his assistance in.obtaining proper dwellings He was able to give adv.ee on desi»nina calculating costs and ordering timUer, and as a result some of the older families to-day occupy comparatively good cottage-. The few of these tl.at 1 recently entered were certainly anything bn't 'hovel.-.' They consisted of three or tcilir looms, mill were spotlessly dean. Hut they are all too few.

"Many of tie dwellings offer conditions that can be«t I K > described as tragic. 'liny one roomed .-''.lacks built in the swampiest situations are inhabited by whole families. ]„ most lim ., zil | S contrast to this was one particular household, with whom 1 was pleased to stay during my visit, and where I was entertained with no less hospitality, comfort and cleanliness than I could have had at any pakeha home.

"Despite the unhappy facts contained in that recent report, some of the better influences of the pakeha are more marked in these Maoris than in any other body of native people. This seems strange, when one considers their extreme isolation. The answer, however, is not hard to find. Missionaries had a great deal of influence up here in the early days, and when my father arrived, all the Maoris were adherents of the Christian faith, the majority of them worshipping regularly in the littkAnglican church, which stood on the highest liill overlooking the harbour. (Tt has since been blown down.) Whalers, too. wero frequent nt Te Hapua in the very early times, and it is relevant to note that European names, both ehri«tian names and surnames, are as frequent as Maori ones."

Mr. Vino instanced as an example of the hospitality and kindliness of the Maori people of the locality on 'the occasion of the wreck of the Wimmera. which struck a German mine off Three Kings Islands during the war days. The SO survivors of the wreck were entertained in the village prior to the arrival of the rescue ship from Auckland, and the Maoris gave them freely of their scanty supplies, feeding and clothing them and providing accommodation. For that service the Maoris' of Te Hapua received a letter of thanks, written on behalf of the city of Auckland, by the then deputy-Mayor, ,the late Mr. A. ,T. Entrican.