IN THE SHADOW OF RUAPEHU Story by E. Schwimmer Photography Charles Hale In the remote parts of New Zealand there are many Maori organisations nobody ever hears very much about. The work they do is not spectacular. There may only be two or three hundred Maoris in the area, money may be short and the land they own may not yet be all developed. Life is uneventful and all that can be achieved by an organisation or a committee is to make living just a little more interesting and worthwhile, to give the community something to aim at. To the outsider it may not look impressive, but in terms of human happiness it may mean a good deal. Such is the achievement of the tribal committees in the Raetihi Ohakune area visited by Te Ao Hou some months ago. Photographs of our visit appear on these pages. Thirty to forty years ago the whole of this area was in bush. A few Europeans started sheep farming. In the twenties, the Chinese market gardeners who had exhausted all the virgin land around Wanganui, discovered the rich flats of volcanic loam and began to grow vegetables on a big scale. Taking land on three year leases they stumped the soil after burning, grew their crops and put down grass without charge to the owners. In this way Maori farming in the area began. Maoris from all over the North Island found jobs on the market gardens of Raetihi and Ohakune. For those local people who did not have farms, such jobs became the main livelihood. After the Maori Housing Act was passed in 1935, government officials began to visit the place to talk about the housing conditions. For many families these had remained primitive. However, nothing substantially changed until after the war. When Raetihi formed its tribal committee—this was very shortly after the war—housing was its first worry. Mr Sam Arahanga who is now the warden at Raetihi told Te Ao Hou how he, with some others, put to the government a proposal to build a group of fifty houses in Raetihi. But before the scheme could get properly started the personnel of the committee changed. The new committee, although also very interested in housing, developed the idea of building a proper hall for the marae. Tonihi Te Iwimate started a youth club and the usual money raising functions began. At Karioi, a committee under the chairmanship of Mr Rangi Wilson planned a complete marae. dining hall, meeting house and all other modern facilities, an ambitious project costing £6700. The Chadwick home is now almost finished. The Chadwicks who do a good deal of the community work in Raetihi, built their home with their own hands. In a magazine they found a house plan they liked and gradually the home took shape. They have kept the well-worn magazine page which started off their idea.