MAORI PEOPLE

Waikato Independent, Volume XXXIX, Issue 3598, 26 August 1939, Page 5

MAORI PEOPLE

LARGER POPULATION LAND DEVELOPMENT A furher substantial increase in the Maori population during the past year is recorded in the annual report of the Native Department presented to Parliament. At the end of March, 1938, the Maori population, was 86,767, and the figure increased in the next year to 88,450. The report states that there was a material improvement in the econamic and living conditions of the Maori people through the operation of native land development and housing schemes. Efforts were continued to provide work of a productive nature for natives in need of assistance, and the department was able to promote useful employment for a large number. Wages paid to some 5000 Maori workers amounted to £507,250, towards which a grant of £415,000 was made from the employment promotion fund. Land development work, which was subsidised from 50 to 100 per cent, accounted for £57,250, and labour costs of the erection of houses financed from the special native housing fund took £50,000. With few exceptions, the work was carried out on a contract basis, enabling reasonably efficient workmen, to earn 16/- a day.