population, for the ratio of Maoris to pakehas has been steadily rising, until now there are at least three Maoris to every pakeha, and in some districts as many as five. It is only since 1945 that the rate of increase has shown signs of slowing down, but the signs there, nevertheless. The same tendency can be clearly seen in the eastern Bay of Plenty. In this case the growth of the Maori rural population has been small between Opotiki and Cape Runaway—an area which is still rather isolated and where the population is mainly Maori—and in comparison, little short of phenomenal between Opotiki and Matata, where pakeha settlement is already relatively close. The Maori population of the Volcanic Plateau has also been growing very rapidly indeed, but pakeha farmers and pakehas working for timber companies or on public works projects have settled in the area at an even faster rate, so that there are more pakehas in relation to Maoris than there were before. Besides the Volcanic Plateau, the areas where the Maori population seems to be growing most rapidly are the Manukau-Franklin area, the Waikato and the southern parts of Northland—all areas where Maoris have not been numerous since the wars of the nineteenth century—and also the East Coast south of Tokomaru Bay, where Maori settlement is much less dense than it is on the northern East Coast. In the Thames Valley, on the other hand, there are fewer Maoris today than there were before the war. This area is the only one, outside the districts in the far north already mentioned, where the Maori population is not increasing at all.

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).

Why Maoris Choose Large Centres Maori workers prefer to remain as close as possible to their homes, hence, wherever possible, they move to towns within the area in which they live. Rotorua has become the economic centre of Maoris living on the Volcanic Plateau; Whakatane (397) and Opotiki (495) absorb many of the landless Maori workers of the Bay of Plenty. Both Te Kuiti (450) and Gisborne, regional centres for the King Country and southern East Coast respectively, have more than doubled their Maori population since before the war. Many Maoris living just outside the borough limits travel daily to work in all these towns. These towns, however, are not all always able to employ even those from their own districts who want work. Many, too, live in areas where there are either no towns or only towns in which industrial development is not far advanced. In all these cases Maori workers must seek work further afield. For the most part they prefer the major cities of the Province—Auckland, Hamilton and Whangarei (401), all of which lie in areas where the population is predominantly pakeha. They prefer to travel to these cities, sometimes hundreds of miles, because of the greater opportunities for employment there, and also because they are sure of finding there others from their own part of the country. In at least two areas where Maoris are numerous, in proportion both to land areas and to pakeha population, Maoris migrate in a steady stream to these outside towns. On the northern East Coast this outward movement is mainly to Auckland, and is due to the absence of an urban centre within the area and the overcrowded nature of employment in Gisborne, the nearest centre. The far north has six urban centres, but none is large; they cannot cope with the demand for employment from Maoris from the surrounding rural areas, and these must seek work in Whangarei or Auckland. Hamilton draws its Maori workers mainly