THE MAORI FARMER

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVII, Issue 215, 25 August 1927, Page 6

THE MAORI FARMER

ZEAL AND ENTHUSIASM. ASSISTANCE FROM BO ADDS. (Special to “Tribune.’’) Wellington. Aug. 25. The annual report of the Under Secretary to the Native Denarimenl states that legislation passed during lilt 1920 eeas.uil euuOlvu -Ji va.10... boards to assist Maoris within then respective districts in farming and otherwise utilising their their lands. The Maoris have awakened to the faet that if they are to retain their land they must make it productive, and the increased facilities given to them in the way of finance would ap pear to be opening up a new vista for them. The Maoris, in common with others, are affected by the fall in the price' of primary products and some oi the Maori dairy associations arc feeling the pinch keenly, but it is worthy 04 note and as exemplifying their zeal and enthusiasm that the principal Maori dairy factory, during the season just closed has doubled its output of butter from 60 to 120 tons and that next season the suppliers hope to have between 400 and 500 addl tional cows in profit. Another noteworthy fact is that while according to last year’s sheep returns the gross total of sheep owned by sheep farmers in the Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay sheep districts, there being the localities where the principal Maori sheep farmers are located, decreased by 118.669, native docks in the same district show an apparent increase of 2700 sheep. The total number o-f sheep owned by Maoris is estimated at about 50'1,000 out of a total of 24.904,993 sheep held bv sheepowners in New Zealand in 1926.