Using Controller pagination via $this->paginate is deprecated. We should be using the Paginator component instead, ie: $this->Paginator->paginate()

From the mailing list "Questions about Paginator's setup":

"When you include the Paginator component, those settings will be used. If
you use the deprecated Controller::paginate() method, it will load the
existing Paginator (one with no settings) instead of creating a new one and
adding the $this->paginate settings.

So, I would say ditch the $this->paginate var on your controller, and use
the correct method $this->Paginator->paginate() in you controller method to paginate data. That should use the settings you initialize with (that is,
the settings in the $components var)."