“MUCH IMPRESSED”

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 56, Issue 4044, 6 May 1938, Page 5

“MUCH IMPRESSED”

NATIVE LANDS DEVELOPMENT. SIX DAYS IN ELECTORATE WITH MINISTER OF LANDS. MR BROADFOOT COMMENTS ON TOUR. Mr W. J. Broadfoot, M.P. for Waitomo, mentioned in the course of a chat with a Courier representative some of his impressions gained while touring the greater part of his electorate last week with the Hon. F. Langstone, Minister of Lands and Mimster-in-Charge of Native Affairs. He said the tour had been undertaken with the object of securing first-hand information bearing on the progress of the native land development schemes in various parts of the electorate, and to gain a general knowledge of the problems of Crown tenants. TOUR FULL OF INTEREST. Mr Broadfoot said the whole tour was full of interest, for he had been afforded opportunity of seeing, and hearing, the two sides of the problem —the departmental viewpoint and the Crown tenants’ viewpoint, in respect to the development plants. The development of the native lands in the Te Kopua, Ngutunui and Puketotara districts was the one that concerned Te Awamutu particularly, and Mi* Broadfoot said he had been astonished at the extent of country that had been brought from unproductive stage to the point where many hundreds of acres were now under grass, with splendid prospects of developing into a very fine productive area, with butterfat as the mainstay of endeavour. MAGNITUDE OF SCHEME. The work had been done in sections, gangs of workmen being engaged to break the land in, clearing and ploughing, harrowing and seed-sowing, and to-day was as attractive an area of country as could be found in a very long search. “But that area is by no means the only one,” continued Mr Broadfoot. “The native land development scheme is functioning in dozens of places, notably in the area skirting the Kawhia Harbour, where some really good land has been lying idle for generations, yet handy to water transport. The scheme is now reaching the stage, when something can be seen of its magnitude and its importance in the general economic life of the country. Hitherto great blocks of native owned land, absolutely or almost unproductive, were a menace to improved European-owned lands near by. Now, that menace is being removed, and the intention is to select young Maoris of good character, experienced in farming practice, and put them bn individualised farms, with small but well-appointed homes and milking sheds, and they will be encouraged to carry on to success. Certain Maoris have achieved success by their individual effort in various parts of the northern King Country and not so many miles away from Te Awamutu. too —and there is really no reason why those successes cannot be emulated to a degree that will be astounding to scoffers at the value of the scheme.” AN HONEST ENDEAVOUR. “But,” said Mr Broadfoot, “whatever comes of it, I believe it is a really honest endeavour to solve a problem that has baffled earlier administrators on behalf of the Maori race; and what I saw on this trip convinces me that the development work has been planned along sound lines. I predict success in almost every part where the scheme is operating. The Maoris themselves are keen about it, and with the changing conditions of life, from communal enterprise (or the lack of it) to individual endeavour, there is no reason why it should not succeed. There is some really good land between the Waipa River and the top of the range. White settlers have made a success of their farming operations there; so why should not the Maori do likewise?”

Continuing, Mr Broadfoot said there was a large area of country on the southern side of Kawhia Harbour towards the sea coast, that would eventually be brought to a high stage of production, and the effect would be to put Kawhia in a much more favourable position, as a commercial centre and supply base. It might be that circumstances in the new area would influence ihe erection of a dairy factory on the harbour somewhere, with deep water close by. so that dairy produce could be shipped away much more economically than was at present possible by road transport. That time might be some years off, but it would surely 7 become an accomplished fact. Kawhia was destined to take its place worthily—-it had good land all round the harbour, and its produce should not always have to be hauled over the dividing range of hills for transport to the ports. Water transport was always cheaper than rail or road. NGAROMA AND AROHENA. Mr Broadfoot went on to tell of his observations in the Ngaroma and Arohena districts, where quite a lot of development work was either already 7 in hand or was being planned. Ngaroma had been termed the “Cinderella of all the farming districts,” but that could not now be said of it. It assuredly had as bright a future prospect as many other districts, said Mr Broadfcot, who remarked that the erection of a sawmill in the district would be an important factor in the district’s development. At Arohena blocks of country were being made productive, experiments in grassing and stock raising were being carried out, and generally there was very good reason to expect a much more successful outcome of the settlers’ endeavours. Mr Broadfoot said that some of the districts south of Otorohanga and Te Kuiti were also receiving attention along the same lines as those he had referred to above, and though he would not g j into details—“that is the prerogative of the Minister,” said Mr Broadfoot—he was obviously imbued with the spirit of confidence that the development of a great deal of hitherto unproductive country would be an accomplished fact at no distant date.