Development Begins

Te Ao Hou, August 1957, Page 27

Development Begins After the war, plans for new power stations were well under way. In 1945 the Ministry of Works wished to acquire part of the Pouakani Block to enable the Maraetai hydro-electric dam to be built as quickly as possible. So part of the block was leased to the Ministry of Works, for the establishment of the town of Mangakino, the terms of the lease stating that it would either end in 21 years or within three years of the completion of the project. The power scheme had the effect of rapidly bringing modern roading and the amenities of a sizeable township to Pouakani. By 1945 the special problem of farming on pumice lands had also been overcome; the use of cobalt in fertiliser had become general and effective in overcoming “bush-sickness”. The development of Pouakani had now become a practical possibility. Towards the end of 1946 the Board of Maori Affairs approved the setting up of the Pouakani Development Scheme, and by 1948 operations had commenced. At about the same time negotiations with a milling company for the sale of timber on the land, were completed. Instalments of royalty moneys were paid to the owners. An Advisory Committee, with Mr George Te Whaiti as chairman, was elected by the owners in the Wairarapa. The purpose of this committee was to safeguard the rights of the owners and to advise the Board of Maori Affairs when it came to the selection of young men as settlers for the farms which would be available. The older people, who were the direct owners were not anxious to make a new start in life. They

Tui Te Maari, great grandson of Piripi Te Maari began farming at Pouakani in 1953. Also noted as a Waikato rep. footballer, he has become a very successful farmer (producing well over 17,000 lbs of butterfat annually). (Forestry Service Photograph.) may not have owned their own farms, but they had their homes, their friends and firmly established roots in the Wairarapa, The contrast between what they had known all their lives and the unknown would be too great. But they had sons who were young and strong and who would one day inherit shares in Pouakani. Why should they not be eligible for a farm? For the young it was the opportunity of a lifetime. And so with parental support and encouragement, boys who were the sons of owners, or owners in their own right through the death of a parent, with little hesitation decided their way of life lay in this new adventure. The break was made and away went several young men to carve out new lives for themselves just as new farms were being carved from the bush. At first these boys, who went to Pouakani in the initial stages, were employed by the Government on the actual development work, clearing the land, fencing it and all the other jobs necessary to bring it to a farmable condition.