Public health work was extended into the Maori field under the auspices of Ngata and Te Puea, who worked closely together to ensure that Maori communities were in a position to take responsibility for their own public health and economic development, particularly when it came to significant epidemic introduced diseases such as tuberculosis. One at the political end and the other at the community end, they formed a formidable team. Their emphasis was on local and individual responsibility through iwi affiliation thereby pioneering an approach which has paid social and economic dividends for Maori ever since.