Native Housing

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 14, 1 February 1937, Page 6

Native Housing

SOME BAD SP0TS Mr Cullen Inspects The H.B. Area WAIKAREMOANA WORST The housing conditions prevailing in the Maori pas are being investigated by the Government through tbe Prime Minister. .His associates in Native affairs, one of whom is Mr. E. L. Cullen, M.P., - axe carrying out the inspections and reporting to Mr. Savage as they complete their surveys of the various districts allocated to them. Last week Mr. Cullen forwarded his report for the Hawke's Bay district, and to-morrow he leaves for Wairoa, where he will spend practically all the present week. Later he expects to visit c&i^ain parts of the Taranaki province. ' "Our investigation is quite apart from anything that the Department oi Native Affairs may be undertaking and is confined solely to inspecting the dwellings 'and general habitation coad^tionjs ruling in the varions pas," said Mr. Cullen to a "Herald-Tribune*4 reporter this morning. "What will be the eventual outcome of the investiga^ tion I cannot say, but it is hoped that some improvement in the living conditions prevailing in certain districts will he brought about in some way by assistance from the Governmwnt." That there is need for the investigation Mr. Cullen has quite satisfied himself. "Even in this very prosperous part of the country there are some very bad spots," he said. "One of th§ worst in this district is at Bridge Pa, and in one instanee a family of seven is living in an enclosure- — I say enclosure for want of a better descrsp* tion — of about 12ft. by 14ft. There are a number of other cases where some help i« obviously required." Quite the worst experience of Mr. Cullen was his visit* to the Waikaremoana district, for there he .found wretched conditions. "The conditions under which some of the Maoris are living in the Waikaremoana district are shocking," he said. "It canie.as a great shock to me to find that it was possible to exist under such con-

ditions as I found thean in. Why, in one case I found that a fannij of flve had cut a big corrugated iron water-tank in two and after certain excavation work had placed it into a hillside, the result being that they vixtually lived in a cave. "There is not the slightest doubt that something will have to be done before the coming winter," said Mr. Cullen, "pjarticuljarly at Waikaremoana, which is one of the worst districts. That it will be a difficult matter I . can foresee, for in the majority of cases the men are already receiving some assistance from the EmpIoymenJ Fund. Tbey are not in receipt of any rentals, like some of the tribes in this district, ana there is one tribe that actually has no land at all, its place of abode at the present time being purely a question of good will on the part of otber natives." Mr. Cullen mentioned that other associates to the Prime Minister were carrying out similar investigations in different parts of tbe country and that all tbe reports were being forwarded direct to tbe Prime Minister. The investigation was in the nature of a Parliamentary one, and at present had nothinsr to do with the Deuartment of

Native Affairs.