This is the second of the occasional holiday notes. I have been in the Northern part of New Zealand, where the original mission stations are. Some notes.
- The area is divided into places of quite high prosperity and areas of abject poverty.
- The two communities are not completely separated by race, but that is the way to play it. The Maori are poorer, vote of a party (mana) which makes Castro and Chavez look sane. The Whites and Chinese vote Tory.
- The rich live in small communities, down winding roads, which are generally narrow, and own their beaches.. The middle class live in the market towns and run the farms and businesses.
- The poor live in the old factory and mill towns, or on the marae. they are either unemployed or unemployed + illicit work — the family that run mana (the party) are having problems with P labs and some of their homes have been burnt down.
- I now live in the South Island, where the local Maori are quite rich and powerful. Race is not an area of tension, and most of the problems relate to development vs conservation. There is an underlying tension up here.
- Ad there is stress. There are empty subdivisions. Land prices have dropped.
Great place to visit, but I would not like to live up here. I prefer to live in peace.
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