Movement to Cities

Te Ao Hou, Autumn 1953, Page 12

Movement to Cities It is obvious that the rate of natural increase among the Maoris cannot be declining in these more remote areas, like Hokianga and Waiapu, where the Maoris are more numerous. The natural increase—the number of children born in the average family—is just as great if not greater in the far north, along the Opotiki coast and on the northern East Coast than anywhere else in the Province. The reason why the number of Maoris actually living in these areas has not increased as much as could be expected is that large numbers leave these areas each year to go and live elsewhere. Some Maoris from other parts of the Province also leave their homes in search of work, but not in the same numbers. Not many Maoris move from one rural area to another, except perhaps to the new forest plantations and timber mills of the Volcanic Plateau. Most of those who leave their homes go to live in the towns and cities. Over the last sixteen years there has been a remarkable increase in the number of Maoris living in urban areas. The most striking feature of this movement is the way in which its effect has been confined to the largest centres only. The number of Maoris living in the small rural centres, and in some of the smaller towns such as Matamata and Cambridge, has shown no exceptional increase, and in many cases has actually declined, whereas two-thirds of the Maori urban population are now concentrated in four major centres—Auckland (7106), Rotorua (1440), Gisborne (1096) and Hamilton (687).