Activities in the Panguru Project

Te Ao Hou, December 1955, Page 6

Activities in the Panguru Project At present, work undertaken in the Panguru project includes the setting up of investment societies; a small timber mill; a library; a monthly market-day; and a co-operative piggery. Vegetable growing is being encouraged; sporting activities are being supported and entertainments provided. Said one of the Te Rarawa chiefs recently, “These schemes have brought us back to life.” And no wonder, for the people have taken them to heart. Mr Booth has provided the expert “know-how” on community development in the area but he is

Inspecting plans of the new piggery. Left to right: Messrs Steve Ngaropo, John Samson, John Booth, Leon Ngaropo and Phillip Matthews. there because the people asked to have him there. They wanted to have him work with them on their community development. Though he is the advisor, the community development schemes are truly the people's. At present the major material difficulty facing these communities is the number of small uneconomic farms. Mr Booth sees this as a community development problem that the community—and this includes government representatives in the community—must tackle. This means government and people moving together as one community. Part of the problem stems from the fact that family holdings do not provide economic farms. It has been found though that many of the farmers in the area would welcome an attempt at a wholesale readjustment of boundaries, aimed at providing economic farms rather than keeping family lands intact. To provide sufficient economic farms, existing holdings would have to be amalgamated. Some of the older people have already made their holdings available to younger people and others would do the same, if alternative accommodation were provided. Plans are already advanced for reducing the number of farms in the area. The consolidation and conversion officer. Mr N. P. K. Puriri, the field supervisor, Mr D. Wright, and Mr Booth have all been active in this work. Long before community development was suggested in the area, the Maori Affairs Department had done much work on land development, consolidation of land titles, housing and welfare. Now the research officer is seeking ways of co-ordinating these activities, and always the central idea is that the activities become community ones, not departmental, the department's officers fitting into the scheme as advisors. The theory of this is that improvements arbitrarily imposed on the people from outside will not have lasting value. The aim is to pin-point their needs, and show the people how they can meet them through their own efforts. The government started land development in the Panguru area back in 1935. With Sir Apirana Ngata behind it, development went with a swing. It provided employment, housing and more economic security, and generally gave the community an uplift. It was partly because of the land development history of the area that Mr Booth was sent there in the first place to do research into the effect of the department's policy. Another fact making the district a particularly good one for research was that the settlements were all-Maori, and had to face most of the problems common to North Auckland and many other rural Maori areas.