G.—lo.

(parliamentary paper G.-10, 1931) emphasis was laid on tribal custom and leadership as factors in the success or failure of Maori undertakings, and attention directed to indications that representatives of chieftain lines were displaying in the field of modern industry qualities of energetic leadership for which their forbears were noted in other days. So much may be said by way of preface to the story of the remarkable achievements of Te Puea Herangi, a chieftainess of the Potatau family and a first, cousin of Te Rata Mahuta, and of the willing co-operation by precept and action rendered by Te Rata himself and his younger brothers in furthering the policy of land-development throughout Waikato and the Kingcountry. Te Puea had shown in the establishment of the Maori village at Ngaruawahia exceptional gifts of leadership, organization, and business control. With slender resources, and a poorly equipped following of orphan, homeless, and landless folk, but with indomitable spirit and determination, she succeeded in erecting a marae of the first rank, with large buildings to accommodate assemblies that would restore the prestige and mana of the paramount family, culminating in the construction of the Mahinarangi carved runanga house. Then came the problem of maintaining jthe marae*and all that it implied, including the entourage of men, women, and children whose fortunes were linked with it and its creator. Te Puea was advised to go further and to organize the land resources of such of her people as would follow her lead. This is by way of introduction to the development-work undertaken under the auspices of Te Puea Herangi by her immediate following at Waiuku. During the session of 1928 provision had been made by Parliament in the Native Land Amendment, &c., Act, whereby Native land could be placed by order of the Native Land Court for development under the administration of a Maori Land Board and to be financed from its funds. Waiuku Lands: Waipipi (Te Hakona) and Kaihau (Tahuna) Schemes. On representations made by the Franklin County Council to the then Minister of Lands (now Prime Minister) that certain Native-owned lands near Waiuku, situated in the midst of high-producing European farms, were not paying rates, but were overrun with noxious weeds, which were a menace to surrounding lands, the matter was taken up by the Native Department. Inspections were made, whicb showed that the lands in question could be economically developed and made highly productive if guidance and supervision, together with reasonable finance, were provided. Proceedings were taken under subsection (13) of section 3 of the Native Land Amendment, &c., Act, 1928, on the Native Minister's application, and the Native Land Court made an order declaring that the above lands should be subject to the provisions of the said Act. This placed them under the administration of the Waikato-Maniapoto Maori Land Board, and authorized the Board to apply its funds to the development and farming of the same. Te Puea and her community were placed on the lands to develop them. Work was commenced on Waipipi (Te Hakona) on the 20th September, 1929, the Ngaruawahia people having been transferred thither with part of the supply of potatoes left over from the large meeting held in the previous autumn to celebrate the opening of Mahinarangi carved house. The following account is supplied by an officer of the Native Department who visited the settlement a few weeks after its commencement : — "Te Puea is quite enthusiastic about the place. The supply of potatoes from Ngaruawahia will serve her and her people for many months to come. There are various sources of kinaki (relishes) there. Prom the sea within a stone's throw of the cottage and farm they get pipis, mussels, oysters, and tupa, to say nothing of the abundant supply of flounders, which the young folk nightly obtain. From the fresh-water streams near by they get eels. Mullet is plentiful. lam satisfied that the scheme will take on like hot cakes. The ohu or working-bee idea is being developed by Te Puea, and her example will go a long way in inducing other Waikatos to fall in with the scheme." The organization of the working-bee was a novel one in regard to official land-development. It has already been described on page xx of Gr.-10, 1931, and may be referred to here as the Waiuku system of land-development, " the chief characteristics of which are the selection of a member or members of a family or group to represent it on the official pay-roll and the application of the sustenance wage to the food account of the group while engaged on the development of its land." The sustenance rate fixed at Waiuku and applied to the Waipipi (Te Hakona) scheme was 6s. a day, and six members of the Ngaruawahia party were placed on the pay-roll, including the mechanic who operated the tractor and tractor implements, the driver of the communal motor-lorry, and men who were expert carpenters, as well as competent scrub-cutters, drainers, and so forth. The combined sustenance allowance sufficed to obtain pakeha food not only for the men on the pay-roll, but also for the young men and women who assisted in all operations. When the land was being ploughed with tractor-drawn implements, employing one expert Maori mechanic, the rest of the party were busy in front of the plough clearing scrub or stumping and grubbing or filling in gum-holes, with which the surface was closely pitted. Behind the plough a party of young women pulled up roots and heaped them up for firewood, or gathered kauri-gum brought to the surface. " The development work commenced on the 20th September, 1929, with scrub-cutting, the fillingin of gum-holes, and the erection of a cottage. Ploughing began on the 16th October, and in thirtyfive working-days an area equal to 262 acres was completed, including the necessary ploughing of 135 chains of road frontage. The average area ploughed per day was a little over 8 acres, at a wage cost of 6s. a day. The total sustenance wages earned were £96 ; the gum (picked up after the plough) produced £104. It was an illustration of the working-bee or ohu operating under an energetic hereditary chieftainess, who spared neither herself nor her people in the new sphere of productive effort." This detailed account of the commencement of the development of lands at Waiuku by a section of the Waikato people under a daughter of the house of Potatau is given in order that the organization of the schemes operating in the northern and middle portions of the Waikato-Maniapoto

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