PICTORIAL PARADE 23: PUMICELANDS

This film shows how the Central Plateau of the North Island was transformed into fertile pasture land by the men of the Land Settlement Board and the Lands & Survey Department. Cobalt is imported from Canada, and sulphur from Louisiana. Hillsides are burnt off and the soil ploughed, fertilised and sown with seed and phosphate.
Power lines are erected through the hills, and houses and schools are built in preparation for the occupation of the new farmland.

Specially chosen men spend two years training on the farms. Maori farmers can now take over their own pumice land farms. A family move from the Wairarapa district to the traditional tribal area of Tuwharetoa and Maniapoto tribes.

A removal truck transports a Pakeha family to their new pumice land farm. Every year 80-100 families move to the area to take over their own farm.