View of Kennedys Bay with the old milling town site in the foreground. Only the church and the Hovell homestead are still standing. The present population of the Bay is partly Maori, partly pakeha, and many have some Maori blood. We were welcomed by a large Maori audience at a meeting during which we found little interest in the revival of the Maori tribal committee and the building of a hall, but definite interest in the idea of an Adult Education course and a library. The one remaining pillar of Maoritanga is Ben Ngapo, the acknowledged expert on local history, a fine orator, who has experienced the most difficult years at Kennedys Bay.

The Chief's Story The Ngati Porou settlers, Ben Ngapo told us, at first grew maize and wheat. Cropping in those days was co-operative: the whole community worked first one man's land, then another's, until the work was done. In the late sixties when the goldminers and millers came, this was dropped and Maoris began to work as loggers and gum-diggers. Everybody earned a living, but nobody grew rich. Te Urupa (Ben) Ngapo, Kennedys Bay elder.