MAORI SMALL FARMING to be Assisted

Te Ao Hou, Winter 1952, Page 40

Tomatoes grown by H. Kuka, Puna, with assistance of the Waiariki Maori Land Board. MAORI SMALL FARMING to be Assisted The Board of Maori Affairs has decided to give its full support to Maori small farming. Hitherto the Board of Maori Affairs has practically restricted itself to financing dairy and sheep farming; help to croppers was arranged by the Maori Land Boards, in those districts where the Board Presidents were prepared to take the heavy risks. The Board of Maori Affairs, at its November meeting, resolved to extend its activities so as to control all Maori land development activities. The Board of Maori Affairs was of course, primarily moved to its resolution by the Government's decision that the Maori Trustee and the Maori Land Boards were to divest themselves of the control and operation of Maori lands under section 523 of the Maori Land Act, 1931, and section 25 of the Maori Trustee Act, 1930. The Government saw no reason why there should be two types of land development bodies (the Maori Trustee and the Maori Land Boards), doing a job with which the main body responsible for the financing of Maori farming (the Board of Maori Affairs) was fully qualified to deal. The Board of Maori Affairs will eventually take over all the land development activities of the Maori Trustee and the Maori Land Boards. It will operate two plans for assisting the Maoris in horticulture.