Future of the Maori.

Feilding Star, Volume III, Issue 760, 22 December 1908, Page 2

Future of the Maori.

1 ■" It is good to see one bright gleam full of promise on tho horizon. This outlook concerns the people witlin our own borders, the Maoris. Mr. A. T. Ngata, who Has just boon reelected as M.P. for the Eastern Maori district, and one of the brightest leaders the Maori Party has ever had, is convinced that all is well with his people. He has come to this conclusion after using his able powers as an observer during his travels up and down and across the dominion as a member of the Native Lands Commission. Interviewed by the Post, the leader of the Young Maori Party thus summarised his impressions : — "I am extremely pleased with the progress made everywhere, and with the spirit that is actuating the young Maoris everywhere. I have never been more hopeful of the industrial future of the Maori. Owing very largely to the advice tended by the Native Land Commission, during the two years of its existence, the Maoris have come to realise the urgent necessity of their becoming cultivators of the soil, and not mere rent-receivers. The new spirit may be reflected, too, in the improvement generally of the villages, jmd in the style of the dwellinghouses and the sanitary conditions geneally." And he has given excellent reasons for his optimistic spirit. He had observed the native at work as a progressive pastoralist and as a dairyman; in a Poverty Bay district an average of 3500 acres of bush country had been cleared yearly since 1904 by Maoris. Near the East Cape, on a block of 16,000 acres, 4000 acres had been cleared, grassed, and stocked. And there were other instances quoted. Twelve months ago, cheese-making was commenced at Ruatohe by the Ureweras. At the end of November last he found a considerable increase in the milk and cheese output. The natives, however, complained that they cannot properly cultivate their fields and raise proper feed for the calves owing to the backward nature of their land titles. Representations have been made to the Native Minister on this subject, and he expects to have a surveyor on the ground by February, or March at latest. It is to be hoped that Mr. Carroll will' see that the latter promise is kept, for when the Maori shows such an activity in helping himself, the State should do everything in its power to help him. There is evidently a happy and better New Year in view for the Maori/