PAKEHA COMMUNISM.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 74, 17 March 1908, Page 4

PAKEHA COMMUNISM.

NATIVE LAXD COMMISSION'S IDEALS.

FOLLOW THE JlAOltl LEAD.

A t TUI'IAX SCHEME.

An examination of the system of incorporated farming, which i, prevalent amongst the Maoris of the East Coast, lias given the Native Land Commission an opportunity of proposing a .system of communistic farming for adopt ion by European farmers.

The sheepfarmers and graziers of Ngatiporou have cleared ami grassed 57,UU() acres of laud and ]iossess 83,000 sheep, iim cattle, and numerous pigs and horses. They have fourteen up-to-date woolsheds, some lilted with sheaving machines, two hundred miles of telephone lines, and many other modern conveniences. The Easl toast system dates back to ISB9. A block or group of blocks is securely fenced, subdivided and provided with building-. A committee has control of the whole block, and tlie farming operation- are carried oui by a manager, who is paid a salary. The labour is supplied by .Maoris, generally by the owners of the laud and their families. At the end of the liiy ancial year accounts arc adjusted, and the profits are divided amongst the owners according to their individual intereats. The committee is the so:e authority for declaring a dividend. " The Maoris are a commercial people, and this system, which preserves a commuaity of interest, but also allows an 1 rewards individual exertion, may be the best means of creating a better industrial life amongst a communal people.'' The Commission states that it knows of nothing that could hinder the adoa- < tion of this communal system by Europeans. A number of pakelia 'famili.could purchase or lease a block of land and incorporate it. Their labour would be paid at current rates, and Ihey would also reap the prolit- of it. Further, the settlers would not live apad on separate farms, hut their housewould lie close to each other, and thus there would be the better social life. | which is the great want of countn- I settlers.

"It is not for us to, predict," says | the report, "what the end of Hie experiment may be. It may be a step towards a more intelligent system of iiidivbhialisaiion on the basis of tin-iiio-i lit receiving a title t" occupy portion- of the communal land, and farming thereon independent „f communal restraint. In our opinion the system now in vogue should receive a full and fair trial, and the Maoris should '>e V'pcd to realise their aim, namely, to have the. best industrial methods and an educated people, whilst that, communal life which allows close social in-lei-course should not be wholly destroeed."