SUCCESS OF HOUSING SCHEMES

Te Ao Hou, June 1959, Page 50

SUCCESS OF HOUSING SCHEMES Most of the Maori families settled in this way have been those who have shown that they are able to measure up to the required living standards in a predominantly pakeha community. From all accounts, 90 per cent of the Maori families in Auckland have successfully adapted themselves to their new situation. But it is still possible to pick a Maori home here and there among those of Europeans, by features other than the kumara or maize which grows in every well-kept Maori garden. In some of these cases of neglect there is no garden, the section is overgrown, and the paint has peeled off the houses. While these sort of homes are relatively fewer than they used to be they are still numerous enough to bring discredit on the people living in the locality. A more healthy sign in the process of Maori adjustment to life in Auckland is the number of complaints which the welfare officers receive from Maori householders about the behaviour of their own people. While complaints generally are fewer the fact that more Maoris are making them suggests that they are keenly alive to their responsibilities and determind that their good name will not be taken away from them by their own people who would cast a slur on the race. The sort of complaints received are about people who illtreat their homes, create a nuisance in the neighbourhood, or do not pay their way.