Sequent Economies in Kuku: A Study of a Rural Locality in New Zealand

Today, the majority of travellers journeying in the North Island of New Zealand, from Wellington to points north, e.g. Palmerston North or Wanganui, travel the length of the Horowhenua coastal plain, which sole routeway is bordered by the Tararua foothills to the east and by the Tasman Sea to the west. At a point some 52 miles north of the capital city and approximately 4 miles south of Levin, the motorist passes over a white bridge near which stands a dairy factory, and at a distance, a Maori meeting house. At the end of the mile-long stretch of State highway, an elevated by-pass affords a view of fenced paddocks, closely-cultivated fields, a railway line and a river. (See frontispiece.) As such scenes are common on many lowland pockets of the North Island of New Zealand, they mean little to the average traveller who crosses the Ohau River and pursues his northward course.