LAND DEVELOPMENT

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LX, Issue 17986, 13 January 1933, Page 12

LAND DEVELOPMENT

MAORIS' NEW SPIRIT OBSERVATIONS BY BISHOP The Bishop of Aotearoa, Bishop Bennett, is paying his annual episcopal visitation of the Maori pastorates of the Tauranga archdeaconry. He has already spent three weeks in the archdeaconry, and on Wednesday left Opotiki for Torere, where he is to visit the local Maoris.

Bishop Bennett thinks there is every reason to feel encouraged as far as the future of the Maori people was concerned, both materially and spiritually. On the material side Maoris everywhere were working hard.

“The old saying that the Maori was lazy is no longer true,’’ said Bishop Bennett. “It is now a rare tiling to see a voung Maori unemployed if work is available. Tho Maori land, development scheme of the Native Department lias been on tho whole a remarkable success. The Maori people are a now race of enthusiasts in land development.” The bishop was very impressed with tho splendid development in Ruatoki. Tho communal spirit of the old-time Maori had been revived in connection with their land schemes, he said. During the harvesting period big parties of Maoris joined togetbor and went from Maori farm to Maori farm helping each other and making no charge whatever for labor or for the use of lorries or machinery. On the sniritual side tho bishop feels very optimistic. Largo congregations gathered everywhere he visited and on several occasions the main services had been held in the open air, as tho churches were not big enough for tho congregation.