MAORI FARMERS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 247, 24 February 1911, Page 3

MAORI FARMERS

OX THE EAST COAST. ASTONISHING RESULTS SECURED BY MODERN METHODS. Auckland, February 21. The work of the Young Maori Party, which emanated from Te Ante College, is nowhere so apparent as on the East Coast ui the Xnrih Island, from Tokoninru Hay up towards Cape Runaway. Tiie Maori owners of the land, aggregating some 00.000 acres, are giving practical demonstration of what they can do in making a start under capable guidance. This is the country of the Hon. A. T. N'gnta, who has always taken the greatest interest in the welfare of his nice iind has done so much to make it possible for two peple to progress side l>y side. There was much to overcome in the habits and predilections of the natives, but they have taken to European ways of utilising their land with astonishing results, and they set an example 1.0 the rest of the race throughout the Dominion.

Mr. Ngata has just arrived in Auckland, en route to Wellington, after a tour through this splendid district, and he reports that the natives are getting along splendidly. They have now close on 200.000 head of sheep and cattle among them, and ho is convinced from his observations that the new order of things has come to stay. Once the Maoris have seen the advantages ,that follow the utilisation of their lands and get used to the higher standard of living, they will not retrogress. The methods of farming are every day becoming more in accordance with the best expert knowledge, and the natives are quick to pick up anything new that may be introduced by their neighbors. "The new freezing works at Tokomaru Bay will do a great deal for the whole of the coast,'' says the Minister. "They are a special boon to the small man and mal«e his prospects brighter than they have even been in the history of the district. The fact that the steamers now call at the Bay brings this part of the country very close to Auckland. Leaving here on Saturday, one'is landed at the bay within twenty-four houM, and from there you arc in touch with most parts of the coast. The East Coasters have been working at the scheme for a freezing works for eleven years, and they now view the future with* confidence." '