A LAND OF PROMISE.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 2694, 12 July 1923, Page 3

A LAND OF PROMISE.

PROSPECTS IN THE KING COUNTRY. SUB-DIVISION OF LAND MAORIS "GOING BIG." A visitor to the King- Country after an absence of ten years, made some interesting comment to a representative of the "Manawatu Daily Times" yesterday morning', the most important part of which was that while Government had been taken to task over land aggregation, and it seemed deservedly so, the future of the King Country rested in extensive sub-divi-sion, this providing an avenue fol immigrants and the unemployed. Of course the sub-division concerned native leases and these tremendous holding had been rotting for the want of proper treatment because the Maori owners were not energetic while the interest was accruing and as long as they could live without effort. This, he said, was not fair to the white settlers who had adjacent holdings because whereas they toiled to incease the value of district, the Moaris were calmly standing by and watching the value of their lands go up. "TURNED THE CORNER." "I think the King Country has turned the corner for a great future," he said, "and now that the Maoris had received, or were receiving their cheques, it would not be long before the Agrarian wheel of progress was set in motion. The King Country, ho said, was possessed of the material to make another Waikato or possibly a Manawatu. The Maori was a lavish spender when lie had money and he was making good use of it at the present time. As the payments were made in the district and not at' the near centre, Auckland, agents fo. cheap motor cars had been doing great business. "By gorry this very great," a Maori told Ihe narrator when taking his wife and eight children down to buy his first motor car—or rather the colloquial "tin Liz." EVENING DRESS AT THE RACES. "The funniest sight I saw, however was a family of Maoris—evidently the cheque had been made good use of —attending the races in novel attire. The men fo.k had donned the latest American outfit, including a fat cigar from which the band had not been removod, and the ladies wore very modern evening dresses it was comical." However, this was significant. It meant that when the money had been spent in the district and the native found himself without the wherewithal to live, ho would go to work for the Pakeha or somewhere else and by this process the productivity of the land would be increased, the dependent towns would do a greater amount of business and, to use a beekeepers' phrase, the "drone" would bo gradually eliminated. HAND IN HAND. Towns such as Taumarunui and Te Kuitl, on the borders of the King Country had wisely made provision for bigger things by exercising forethought in municipal affairs. Taumarunui had an ambitious hydroelectric scheme afoot at Piriaka, eight miles south of the town, and were soon going ahead with the wiring of the houses.