NEW INDUSTRY LIKELY SOON AT RUATOKI

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 96, 10 February 1950, Page 5

NEW INDUSTRY LIKELY SOON AT RUATOKI

There is a definite probability that a clothing factory will soon be established at Ruatoki and staffed almost exclusively with Maori labour. Judge Harvey, of the Maori Land Court, Rotorua, will be visiting Ruatoki very shortly with the general manager of California Products Ltd., Auckland, to settle preliminary details. , With the unqualified blessing of s?! the Maori elders, the scheme envisages the establishment at Ruatoki of an industry that will give an outlet for- the Maori’s natural "i aptitude for fine handcrafts and the handling of machinery without compelling the young people to leave home and seek such opportunities in the big cities with all their pitfalls and temptations. At the outset, it will of course be necessary for the executive and technical staff of the factory to be experienced people, and the local hands will be employed only on unskilled and semi-skilled branches of the work. But Maori supporters of'the plan hope that it will be possible to train young Maoris, who show sufficient aptitude to become technicians' and ultimately executives. - Such is the. enthusiasm that alTeady an atea' of-4£ acres has been given lor the factory and its surroundings. '

One prominent man from Ruatoki, who has made a study of the problems of the Maori race in its march towards full equality with the Pakeha, said yesterday that he was firmly convinced that the clothing factory plan would do a lot to allay the unrest of the youngsters who were coming home from High Schools and colleges with a good standard of education, only to find that the only avenues open to them near home were jobs as farm hands, cheese factory hands, road workers, or, in the case of girls, domestics. This scheme would give new hope of progress to his own community, new opportunities for its young people and he trusted that if the experiment i were successful it might pave the way for others of a like nature throughout the country.