NATIVE LANDS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXII, Issue 89, 30 March 1932, Page 5

NATIVE LANDS

COMMUNAL FARMING FIGHTING THE DEPRESSION. FINE EFFORT BY MAORIS. (By Eric Ramsden in ’’Sydney Morning Herald”) The most important experiment in tho history oi the settlement of native lauds is now taking place in New Zealand. Tho total area remaining in the. hands of Maori owners is less than 4,500,000 acres, of which by far the greater part is not the best quality land or readily accessible. In certain districts the more prosperous Maoris have re-purchased ancestral lands from European owners. It is singularly unfortunate, therefore, that the young Maori farmer oi to-day should be faced by a world-wide economic crisis when the Dominion Government is endeavouring to co-oper-ate in the regeneration of his people. It was interesting to observe, during a recent visit to New Zealand, the spirit animating these Maori farmers. If the scheme does not succeed, it will not be because of any lack of effort on their part.

Money has been advanced by the Government to Maori owners of certain areas in order that they might work their lands on a communal basis. In certain instances neglected lands, formerly covered in blackberry, gorse, and other European invaders, have been taken from their Maori owners, who had neither the means nor desire to work them, and handed over to other Maoris anxious and willing to do the work. These lands were often a menace to adjacent properties owned by Europeans.

MONEY WASTED IN THE PAST. It is frankly admitted by those in charge of the scheme, which has put fresh heart in the Maori people and given them hope of economic independence, that there have been cases in the past where Maoris sold part of their lands, and for want of proper guidance and control, spent the proceeds foolishly. Now that a concerted effort is being made to educate them to acquire industrial knowledge, and to undertake responsibilities in farming their remaining acres under proper supervision by the supply of fencing material, manures, and stock, it is hoped that habits of thrift and caution will come out of the schemes now in operation all over the North Island. The labour for this work is, of course, supplied by the tribes

Credit must go to Sir Apirana Ngata, the present Native Minister (and acting Prime Minister during the recent absence abroad of Mr Forbes), for this scheme. He is undoubted the most able and far-seeing leader the race has ever known. In his recent economic survey of New Zealand Professor Condliffe referred to him as “scholar, poet, statesman, leader of his people in every constructive endeavour.” The genius of Ngata, ho declared, added the constructive elements of policy necessary to enable positive use to be made of Maori lands. The success of the NgatiPorou, his people, under his own guidance, led Ngata to incite Maoris in other districts to farm their lands. For years past the Ngati/Porou, once regarded by other tribes as country cousins, have been successful sheep and dairy farmers

TACTFUL SUPERVISION. Already 591,524 acres in the seven Maori laud districts have been brought into productivity under Ngata’s scheme. With tactful supervision and guidance there is no reason why (said the Minister in a special interview he accorded me in Wellington) the Maori settler should not be as successful in farming the land as he has been in breaking it into pasture. Already he has helped to create a value greater than the cost of development. But the work of the Maori farmer is not yet finished. Ho has yet to make a home; he has to continue cultivation and improvement in order to establish and maintain a good producing farm He will have all these incentives to buoy him up in the struggle to meet the liabilities that await him—rent, interest, rates, and working expenses—anj to withstand the many ills that affect the primary producer. Naturally, the depression has forced the Minister to exercise economy - in

many directions It was his present duty, he said, to see that the progress achieved was maintained. The experiment had been successfully tried by selecting from .the .Maori farmers leaders who could interpret the requirements of responsible officials, and, at the same time, be thoroughly conversant with the native viewpoint. Princess Te Puea Herangi, high chieftainess of Waikato, is an outstanding personality who combines hereditary rank with a gift for leadership. Sir Apirana admitted that of all the tribes the Waikatos had been the most difficult to deal with. To them the very name of Government was anathema. This once powerful people, which had challenged the supremacy of the Brit ish, had never forgiven the Europeans for confiscating their fertile lands following the i.vr of the 60’s. If it had not been for the personal influence, or mana, of Te Puea they would never have entered the scheme, but would have withstood this offer as they had refused others from Governments in the past.