A Wonderful Help

Te Ao Hou, June 1963, Page 55

A Wonderful Help ‘We found her a really wonderful help’, Mrs Bennett said. Independence was a very new idea in those days, and in some ways a worrying one. Leaving the protection of the Maori Affairs Department, even with the promise of a Government subsidy for the first few years, was not easily done. ‘Joan had a vision of what the League could be,’ Mrs Bennett said. ‘She saw its potential.’ She knew how to make others share her vision, and her courage. For the first year of independence Joan was in a small office in Willis Street, carrying on without an assistant. Then, after much hunting round town, she managed to find the office in Hinemoa Flats, Hawkestone Street, where the League is now. Soon after they shifted there, Joan had to leave the League for health reasons. Miss H. Ngarimu took her place, and an assistant, Mrs Findlay, came to help. It was Miss Ngarimu who actually set up the office in Hinemoa Flats. Then, near the end of 1961, and in spite of the fact that she had a small baby, Joan took over again as Secretary-Treasurer, and was with League from then until last March.