MAORI FARMERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 33, 9 February 1939, Page 12

MAORI FARMERS.

LAND IMPROVEMENTS. PROGRAMME IN NORTH. NATIVE DEPARTMENT'S WORK (By Telegraph—Own Correspondent.) WHAXOABEI, this day. Great changes are ticking place among the Maori people of the Xorth. Uiuler the guidance of the Native Department hundreds of Maoris will soon he at work on their own farms, and many more at present on farms will gain the benefit of improvements ■which, it i« hoped, will {rive them the incentive to nee their land to the best advantage. Stretching from a little eouth of Kawakawa to the Pipiwai district lies an ex[>anee of native land estimated at 00.000 acrpe. Some of this is leased to white (settlers, hut a great portion of it is in standing bush, in scrub, or is lying idle and covered l>y fallen trees. Concerted action in the past year or two ha« resulted in much of the unproductive land being brought under the plough, and there in evidence tliat more and still more land will he used for farming purposes within a very few years. One of the greatest problems facing the Xafive Department i« that of inculcating into the Maoris the idea of the necessity for making their farms productive. Ak with ninny native races, the Maoris do not readily assimilate European principles of economic industrial enterprise, and it is difficult for them fo adopt the hard-working methods of a modern farmer. One of the main initial tasks will be to encourage the Maoris into this new way of living. They will he encouraged to give up much of their old life, and adapt themselves to farming with an understanding that it i« a business, and that it must be run in competition wit'.i other farmers. Many *chemps are being put forward to bring about the change. One of the jnost important is that of givhig the Maori** a «>nse of independent responsibility and a pride in hin own possession. Better houses, better machinery, better milking sheds, are being provided, and a great deal of the success of the native farming pcheme will depend on the Maoris' appreciation of the assistance that i« being rendered. Payment for improved accommodation, etc.. is arranged by a system of deduction from cream cheques. Modern machinery is being need, and large tracts of land are being brought under cultivation. These will be ultimately settled by Maori farmers, soma of whom are out of work. At the outset, the Maoris wilj[ have to work more or less under the direction and supervision of Native Department officers, but in the main every endeavour is to be made to inculcate into the individual farmer a sense of the importance of his own particular task in caring for the prepared plot of ground that will be hie in a year or two.