MAORIS AS FARMERS

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 941, 7 April 1930, Page 8

MAORIS AS FARMERS

WORK OF SETTLEMENT DR. PETER BUCK PLEASED The speed with which the work ot settling the Maoris on the land has pr >- gressed during the three years he lias been absent from the Dominion has greatly impressed Dr. Peter Bue;, enthologist to the Bishop Museum lit Honolulu, who is visiting Aucklanl. He is to return to Hawaii by the Niagara tomorrow for a further t*o years.

In the past the Maoris held small interests in various blocks of land and it was difficult for men who were prepared to work to do so. This was now being overcome by the consolidation of the interests of each community ard providing an area of land on which a group could Jive and work. Dr. Buck has visited a number of these settlements, particularly at Gisborne, Mahoenui, Wanganui, Waiapu, Waimiha, near Te Kuiti, Waiuku and at Horohoro, near Rotorua. The Government had also helped in breakin; in these areas and had advanced money for fencing, grassing and stocking. The co-operative spirit was especially noticeable at Horohoro. The land had belonged to the Rotorua tribe, br.t the area had been given to the Minister of Native Affairs for administration. Natives had been brought in from Wairoa, Hawke’s Bay, to settle the area—an action typical of the unselfish early Polynesians. The change over from sheep farming to dairying at Waiapu had resulted in an additional £4,000 being paid out by the dairy factory for butter-fat. Such results were providing the Maori with an incentive to go on the land and earn his living, said Dr. Buck. The settler would then be in a position to pay the rates and taxes due, and this would put county councils and other bodies in a position to provide better facilities. •