DAIRYING FOR WAIAPO

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LI, Issue 8273, 27 April 1923, Page 4

DAIRYING FOR WAIAPO

SOCIAL REVOLUTION IN THE TRIBE NECESSARY. At a meeting field at W ai-u-Mata-tiui last year lilt- Hon. A. 1. Ngata . promised’he would arrange lor a dairy expert to visit W aiapiuat a time when the district would be at its driest, and consequently Air Singleton, head of the Dairy Division of the Department ol Agriculture, paid a visit to (he district Recently (says a correspondent of the Poverty Bay Herald). He was accompanied by'Mr Beatson, instructor for Poverty Bay, and by- Mr Carpentei manager of the Bank of New South Wales at Tokomani Bay. The party were accompanied by Mr K. S. Williams and the Hon. A. 1. Ngata, M.P.’s. Should be Land Flowing with Milk and Honey. Mr Singleton addressed meetings of settlers at Te Araroa, Tikitiki, and Ruatorea. At Tikitiki he told the natives what was required to make dairying successful. He was much impressed with the Waiapu Valley as a dairy country. He thought there was perhaps none better. Had the district been in other parts of New Zealand where means of communication were belter it would long ago be bowing with milk and honey. One native wanted to know how the scheme was going to be financed, as that was the crux of the whole matter. Mr Singleton replied that it would cost £6OOO to erect an efficient plant and Hie' money would have to be found by the settlers. Finance the least Difficulty. In a conversation with Mr Ngata, Mr Carpenter assured him that finance was the least difficulty in starting the dairy industry at Waiapu 'The Hon A. T. Ngata also addressed the natives. He pointed out that to carry on dairying as it should be done would mean a social revolution in the tribe. It would mean doing away with huis, tangis, football, dances, and even Sunday. He asked whether the natives would be equal to the task. One native wanted his cows at nr.:e so that by the time the factory ' was ready he and his cows would be more ready. To encourage the natives, Mr Singleton mentioned the fact that in other districts where dairying had been stabilized the natives were good suppliers. In the Ruatoki factory, out of 31 suppliers 28 were natives. 10,000 Acres Suitable. In the whole of the Waiapu valley the Hon. A. T. Ngata considers there are 10,000 acres suitable for dairying. He hopes to start the first factory at Ruatorea, where the titles to native lands are on a more satisfactory basis, and further down the valley where the titles are not settled dairying might be commenced twelve or eighteen months hence. Personally he does not fancy dairying. sheep fanning is his particular, line “In slieepfarming," remarked Mr Ngata jocularly, “man is the boss. He- can say to the sheep, ‘I am too busv to attend to you to-day ; I’ll see you to-morrow.’’ But with the cow it is different. The cow Ts the boss absolutely. She says to man, “I must be milked on the stroke of the clock, if I am not, then it is good-bye.” Sheep Must Make Way For Cows. Mr Ngata, however, admits the "dairy industry is coming in the Waiapu valley, and sheep must make way for it. In regard to dairying prospects at Te Araroa, Mr Singleton is inclined to the opinion that for the first year at least Te Araroa people would find it better to send their cream to a Waiapu factory.