YOUNG MAORI PARTY'

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2698, 31 December 1909, Page 4

YOUNG MAORI PARTY'

CONFERENCE AT AUCKLAND

(Pun Pkkss Association.! AUCKLAND, Dec. 30. At the annual conference of the northern division of the Young Maori Party to-day, Mr. Paul, chairman of the industry section, read a paper on “The Industrial Side of Maori Life,” and the progress made, by the natives in various pursuits, principally farming. He pointed out tliat in Taranaki a small number of natives had ‘made successful dairy farmers, whilst in Upper Wanganui several families had settled on bush lands with favorable results. Further South, among the Ngapiato, whose lands had been individualised, sheepfarming. on a small scale and grain growing on a fairly extensive scale had been carried on for years by the natives in the Wairarhpa: and on the East Coast the Maoris had also taken up pastoral pursuits Avith satisfactory results. Dr. To Rangihiroa, M.P., said that the keynote, for the party should ho work, and what was wanted bv tho Maori was assistance in agricultural, educational, and financial facilities to

il liable thofl who desired to do so, iS settle on til >" < )W1 l land as + Mr. Thofl ton, headmaster of Te Auto Collet V that Mr. la)flf> paper would help to prove the fallacy of the state) neats so often heard front the man in tflie street. Iheie were, he said, a lot o ' silly people who, because they saw one drunken Maori, concluded that all M.a >ris were drunkards, and, because tlioj had met a lazy Maori, branded all' Maoris as lazy. They had proved they could work and work well. Dr. Te Rajngihiroa moved, and Mr. G. G. Paul seconded, “That tin's conference ask the Minister for Agrciulture to favorably'' consider the granting of agricultural scholarships to Maori boys as promised l,>y Mr McNab to the Maori Congress of -1908, and to consider the advisability of extending the functions of the inspectors of the Department in Maori districts to give practical aid and assistance to; Maori farmers.” This was Carried.