ARRIVAL

Te Ao Hou, June 1961, Page 8

ARRIVAL It is a cruel reflection on the efforts of educationists that the part of the tour which impressed the children most deeply was the stay at Matakana Island, which was not directly linked with any school lessons. All that had been planned were the sports competitions, the concert, and the free day. Of course we had also hoped that the children would discover something about the geography and economy of the island, but apart from general preliminary talks this “educational” aspect had been left mainly to chance, which is so often the best teacher. As we arrived at Tauranga wharf early on Friday evening the children's excitement reached its height; staying with their friends of the previous year was obviously the crowning event of the tour. A cold wind was blowing as we puffed across the

harbour; most sat in the hold, while a few adventurous ones stood on the narrow deck watching the receding lights of the town. When we arrived at the wharf, our hosts were waiting by their dark tractors and rough drays which form the only means of transport on the island. When our group saw the children of Matakana with their gumboots and country clothes, familiar faces, in front of an old wooden store— suggesting that this was again Maori country— they at once lost the circumspection and tension of the last few days; deft and relaxed, they moved among their new hosts, loaded their luggage and squeezed together on the tractors. Here they could move by themselves; they were no longer dependent for everything on their teachers. The tractors slowly ground through the muddy tracks, front lights blazing. At first several followed each other; you could see the people in front holding tightly to dray or luggage, as the tractors, clogged with inches of mud, splashed into potholes or splurged out of them. Thus the dim outlines of school teachers and pupils were seen moving further and further away from the mainland, tossed about on a wet and roadless island, in search of knowledge. And strangely enough, a valuable, though unexpected, insight was waiting for them. One by one the tractors turned off to other tracks leading to farms hidden behind the hills. One could see the toy lights shining over the mud high up in the distance.