COMMUNAL FARM

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 116, 19 May 1931, Page 11

COMMUNAL FARM

MAORIS DO WELL

PRINCESS TE PUEA'S WORK

-The Waikato Maoris, headed by Princess To Puea~, "have" set an' example in land development that is regarded by the. Native Lands .Department as ono .of the. .best in.New Zealand. OUt :bcyond Waiuku, where two years ago' hundreds of "acres were covered'"with'tea-tt'ec, ■ g'brsc,' and' fern, and infested, with-rab-bits^ tho Princoss :and.: her ;pcople - have founded dairy farms (says the '-'.Auckland.Star").. : . ~' ':. -...'• .-..-... ' .'Those"farms, fully.'stocked; had Cost only ■£■17-'= an'••acre- stated -Mr. J". N. Massey, M.'P.'" for Franklin, in:-an: ■ address aVthe Franklin, combined: chambers 'of -Commerce. - "conference a; few days agp.v .Two ■ years- ago,'.'.the' Kohekohe block of 400 acres was unproductive i land. . In September,: 1929, .Princess To Puoa and: the', members of her tribe set to work,-and'the'result of-their labours showed what could \be done with.- proper organisation, in - a -short time. 'In the past season.' three small herds'had been; milked, on the newlygrassed land. ■•■■■ : - ■...;■■ -..■■■■■ ■."Princess :Te Puea is a'wonderful woman,"- said; Mr." Massey;;. "ShV.has a splendid influence, over .'-the; Natives, and has proved to the rest-of New Zealand, what .can, bo ■ done "in this way. The land-shows that excellent,work, has. been- put -into it. I .do ' not .".sayr" that' the-Crown could develop land at the same-cost ;in,: other places,, but it would bo'better'to.jdevelbp it at double the cost,than to,fritter money away as:,is being done'on some 6i'-. the ; unemployment works." -.■;■■ ' So-convinced" is Princess To Puea 'of ■ the soundness-of the scheme that, she; is extending, her' Operations to another 200 acres' nearby. '•■She has:.also set about preparing" for. work on a larger scale at Konauga, ten miles from Tuaka'uj towards the.Waikato Heads, where 1000' acres" of bush" and rough undeveloped country will/.be converted in, farmlands'.-' ." ..'•':• . ■'■■■ '*-~-. Princess Te Puea leads a remarkably active- life. She is a.'-fine stamp-.of: aristocratic. Maori, •'-.. the -'• cousin:--'- ..of "King" -Ra-ta Mahuta,, of Hu-ntly, and has a striking personality, which .is one of thesecrets.of, her success. .She is highly respected by all 'her: people. It is one of her antbitions to- establish1 them successfully 'in .''"agricultural., and, dairying, pursuits, .and. they;, are re-: spending to..Ms efforts; .[■':■ ;/'... ,"'. ; Before she ventured upon her land 'settlement work, she organised.., the building of a Maori village at-Ngarua-' wahia, whih. she financed by concert, tours. With her."girls .and boys,". as. she called them, she began some years ago to give concerts- throughout the country.... At .first 'the. concert^ party had.- to , walk from place to place;' but they, soon made.' sufficient to afford' horse transport... Some time-later they, bought a 'motor-car, and then, another, and the concerts..wore si) -successful that; the village at Ngaruawahial was! ■constructed in detail, according to her; ideas.- ;. '' ; : .'"•''.-',' .-' ' ; '. '..'.; ,

For ten or fifteen years Princess TePuea has proyed herself a real leader of her people and has been as active, in' helping them as the Maori princesses of the old days were in organising the defence of their' Native pas. They live in wooden houses, and the .work at present being done is carried out with the co-operation of the Native Lands officials.