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Story: Ethnic inequalities

Māori housing, about 1937

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Māori housing, about 1937

These two photographs of Māori houses were collected for the Labour Party around 1937. The top image was in an envelope entitled 'Poorest houses I could find', and the bottom image was in an envelope labelled 'Average Maori home'. Together they provide an indication of the poor quality of Māori housing in rural areas in the 1930s.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, New Zealand Labour Party Papers

Reference: MS-Papers-0270-027-02 (top)

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

David Pearson, Ethnic inequalities – European majority, Māori minority: 1840–1945, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/29530/maori-housing-about-1937 (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by David Pearson, published 24 February 2011.