WAR EFFORT BY MAORIS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 3, Issue 269, 10 February 1941, Page 5

WAR EFFORT BY MAORIS

LEAD FOR REST OF N.Z

2,500 ACRES MORE MAIZE

-BAY OF PLENTY ENTHUSIASM

An example of tireless energy in the war effort of increasing} New Zealand production which might well be followed by many pakelia farmers is provided by the Maoris of the Bay of Plenty who have 2500 acres more maize in cultivation thils season than last. An indication of the tremendous effort they have made in response to the appeal is seen in the fact that this ifs almost three times as great an area as they have grown in the past.

It was estimated bj r the Director ( of Primar^J^rod notion that the ad--<litionr.: would be 4000 and of tKW&only 1200 acres of maize had been supplied by Maori and pakelia farmers throughout the rest of the Dominion in addition to what they had in cultivation last year. Thus almost the whole of the extra burden imposed by the war is being borne by the Maoris of the Bay of Plenty.

Work Night and Day. The largest area under cultivation is on Matakana Island at the entrance to the Tauranga Harbour, where the Maoris have 1200 acres. Several hundreds of acres of this was cleared by a tractor working 24 hours a day. One Maori .Avorked from midnight to noon and another would carry on from then, so that •even from the mainland the powerful. lights of the machine could be seen as it swept up hill and down. The same energy characterised the work in all parts of the Bay of Plenty. At Te Tcko an area of gorse • and hawthorn two feet in height was cut, burnt and cleared belore planting could begin. A small area •of barley was also planted there. Now in all parts of the coastal district from Katikati to Cape Runaway large paddocks of maize rustle "in The breeze. Some of the cro-ps progressed so favourably that they were nine feat high before Christmas, Even where conditions have not been so favourable and a heaviyi crop of weeds has had to be contended with, the Maori farmers have not heen discouraged. One Matakana "Island farmer actually gathered his weed crop brought on by the spring Tain with a hay rake and since then Jtlie maize has grown rapidly.

Officials of the Native Land Board who have taken a keen interest in the progress of the work, do not consider it over-optimistic to estimate the crop on an average of 40 bwsliels to the area resulting in 4000 tons of grain. In fact in anticipation of the harvest several hundred pounds have been spent on sacks alone for the bagging of the grain.

With the harvesting of these hundreds of acres the many problems faced by the Maori farmers will not be ended because with such a tremendous increase in their crop, existing cribs for the storage of the cobs will be hopelessly inadequate. One problem now being faced is the provision of sufficient galvanised iron for the roofing of the cribs, and it is thought possible that a certain amount of native material may have to be used.

"This work of the Maoris will

"have one veryi important bearing on the Dominion's war effort." stated Judge Harvey of the Native Land Court last wcoit. "With so much extra grain grow* in the country it will not be necessary to import so much from South Africa and thus will be cowserved. Discussed. Apart almost the entire burden of the increased maize production for New Zealand, tlae Bay of. Plenty and Tlotorua Maoris are answering the call for increased "bacon production and for the first time bacon ers will be se>nt away from the Horohoro land scheme.

if additional proof is needed tlirit the Maoris are fully alive to the war-time problems facing the Dominion, it is to be found in the series of meetings of the various hap« being lipid from end of the Bay of Plenty to the other.