NORTHERN MAORIS

Northern Advocate, 7 November 1932, Page 6

NORTHERN MAORIS

LAND SETTLEMENT SCHEMES

NEW FACTORS ARISE. INTERESTING INTER VIEW. (Special to "Northern Advocate.’’) WELLINGTON, This Day. Interesting questions concerning the future of the Maori race in the North Auckland district Avere raised by the Native Minister, Sir Apirana Ngata, in an interview, Avhen discussing the work which had been done in the sell lenient of Maoris on the land.

The Native population of the North Auckland district, Avhich, at the census of .1926, was 15,227, Avas estimated at April 1 of this year to be 16,680. If the Eden County, Avith the city and boroughs in its administrative area, ivero included, the population, Avhich was 16,188 in 1926 increased to 17,790 at the beginning of this financial year.

“When the Maori population was declining a generation and a half ago, policies which were adapted to a condition of depopulation appeared reasonable, if deplorable,” said the Minister. “The loss of ancestral land might he offset by a corresponding decline in the numbers of the race, who depended for their maintenance on the revenue from those lands, or by an appreciation in the value of the reduced area.

“The marked increase in the Maori population, now definitely established by the Statistics Office, is a new factor that confronts not only the Administrator of Native Affairs, but also those who administer the social services of the country, particularly health and education. What course should policy take to avoid the expansion of an element popularly reputed to be inefficient, and yet regarded by popular sentiment as the ward of the State? The Maori has yet to prove that, apart from land, he can fit into the increasingly difficult and complex economies of a young and virile western community. To the extent that he will draw sustenance from his own land, so will ho reduce the difficulties to the guardian State.’'

Self-help Spirit,

The way in which the Maoris of North Auckland have boon assisting themselves, although facing great difficulties, was the subject of eulogistic comment by the Minister. Sir :Vpirana said that a feature of native land settlement and development throughout the North Auckland region which was of prime importance in any consideration of the present and future prospects of Maori farming, and of flic risks of loan funds involved was the extent of self-help which prevailed. It was far beyond what obtained in any district among any other native communities.

Until the spring of 3031,. when it was feared that the depression would compel many settlers to neglect their farms and to seek sustenance for themselves and their families on relief works, the development account was not called upon to provide wages in connection with any development work. Assistance was limited to the supply of seed, wire and staples, fertilisers, dairy cattle and utensils, building materials, and the discharge of liabilities secured on stock or equipment. The Northern tribesmen cleared the bush or scrub, ploughed and cultivated, split posts, erected new fences or repaired existing fences, sowed the seed and applied fertiliser, and built their own cottages and cowsheds with their own labour.

‘‘Nowhere was there so much cooperation among individuals and families, so great a determination to reduce to a minimum the call on outside capital, or to suffer the inconvenience of poor housing or indifferent equipment,” said the Minister. ‘‘The Northern tribes describe this characteristic by saying that- they work for one meal a day and themselves provide even that.” Convincing Data. The old Maori land settlement policy which was instituted in North Auckland by the Minister four years ago is now bearing fruit and is proving of great assistance in tiding the natives of the district through the present difficult times. The total expenditure at the end of the year was £40,119, and the Native Laud Settlement Account (vas more than secured for this outlay by 24,877 acres of fair to good pasture, 20,000 acres of unimproved land, with buildings and fences, on the improved lands, and 5800 cows in milk, not to mention younger cattle ami bulls, and 'he utensils and equipment of a larger number of dairy farms-. The assisted Maoris were supplying cream .to 14 factories, ami their repayments on account of advances amounted, by 1 lie? end of March, to £(5373, representing 12 : i per cent on the whole outlay. As only £100(1 interest came to charge dining the period, a substantial part of the repayments was credited to principal.

In P.)20-21, 2102 acres won 1 grassed, and last yoar an additional .'7SO acres were grassed. The luimhcr of cattles bought in tin; two seasons totalled .".-112, making the total, with tin*- stock which the .Maoris brought with them into the scheme and which became security, with the result of the development loans, ."i,522 head, without • aunt lug yearlings and calves. Crass seed amounting to 227,427 pounds has been sown.