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Te Ao Hou, December 1958, Page 64

speak he is also a dumb child! Even if he has learned to speak, he rapidly forgets speech, and he does not bother to listen. He cannot learn in school. He gets behind and other children think he is stupid. After a while he gives up trying and is handicapped for life. This need not happen! If your child has earache get the District Nurse or your doctor to see him straight away. If he already has runny matter coming from the ear, it is even more important to get him seen by the nurse or doctor. These things don't heal quickly. They need a lot of time and patience. Carry out carefully the doctor's or nurse's instruction and if you do this the ear drum will heal and your little child will hear normally and speak normally. If you suspect that your child might be deaf or hard of hearing you can ask the nurse to arrange for your child's hearing to be tested. If he is found to be deaf, the Health and Education Departments can do something about it. But it is much easier not to let your children get deaf, and you can prevent it by a little time and trouble. A large proportion of children in the Deaf School in Auckland are Maori, but only 1 in 9 of the child population of the district the Deaf School serves is Maori. This Maori proportion can be much reduced by greater care for children who show the symptoms described in this article. ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ One of the very few Maori women doctors, Dr J. Karaitiana, has been appointed Junior anaesthetic registrar of the Auckland Hospital. Dr Karaitiana was previously on the staff of the Waikato hospital. Dr Karaitiana is a member of the Ngati Kahungunu tribe of Hawkes Bay. She comes from Havelock North, Hastings, and is descended from a well known family of chiefly rank. She is a daughter of the late Kauru Karaitiana who served with the Royal Flying Corps in the First World War and with the Maori battalion in the Second World War. ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ Official representative at the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Conference at Bermuda next January is Mrs Iriaka M. Ratana, M.P. Mrs Ratana is the first Maori woman ever to officially represent New Zealand. ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ Mrs Rumatiki Wright, M.B.E., has just returned from a trip to Soviet Russia, made at the invitation of women's organizations in Russia. ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ Arrangements to transfer the Maori Hostel in Buckley Terrace, New Plymouth, to the Maori Women's Welfare League, are making steady progress. The latest news is that the Railways Department would be willing to grant a longer-term lease. Previously this lease was on a year to year basis. This means that the planning of improvements for the hostel can now go ahead.