HELP FOR MAORIS

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 285, 31 August 1942, Page 4

HELP FOR MAORIS

Productive Work And

“Grants from the Consolidated Fund made available through the department during the year under review amounted to £247,500, and were b moans of enabling tho board, prolltiibl.' to employ some 2000 Maoris on pro ductive work on Native lands or on • atjve housing construction, statesUK report of the Board of Native Affaire for 1041-42. “In cases where returns from farming were found to lie insufficient to maintain a reasonable standard of living, tlie board Ims purified assistance to settlers during t.ic winter months by way of subsidize! contracts,"! In spite of wartime difficulties, the report states, fair progress was mac “ With housing. The number m noirnes erected, purchased or repaired was Kb. made up as follows ;-Lnfier develop, went ami settlement schemes. .-4. under tho Housing Act, oo; undei tn. sneclal housing fund estabhbbid foi iSht Nifc. 49. Tile total numbar of cottages and ereepid or repaired for Maov‘s ’T (be close 1h4L42 was 22ub. and w addition'll large number of far;n buildings have been provided foi Nativ settlers. Total expenditure under tlie Native Housing Act -since is £233.145. , ~ ..... “Much remains to bo done to. auev.ate the housing conditions of many of the Maori people, who are snl. hi im, in deplorable circumstances winch exist in scattered Native settlements throughout the country,” the report adds, “but war conditions are nt present precluding expansion of activities. Comprehensive measures to ameliorate the position must bo considered in eonjunction with the rehabilitation of Maori soldiers as they return. It m gratifying to note from reports ilia' better housing conditions soon reflect themselves in the improved health of tho occupants, particularly of the chit <7ren.”