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Te Ao Hou, March 1969, Page 4

The Editor, Te Ao Hou Dear Madam, I recently attended a Maori wedding where the ceremony was performed in the meeting house and the food eaten in the dining room of the marae. The warmth, the kindness, the laughter and enjoyment and especially the informality of the occasion, mirrored exactly Rowley Habib's description of the Maori people in his poem ‘Maori’. Obviously the sensitive and articulate Maori can write more truthfully about the feelings of his own people than the Pakeha who is on the outside ‘looking in’. Nonetheless we must be grateful to authors like James E. Ritchie who has made a most sincere attempt to analyse the problems and difficulties of the Maori people so that a better understanding between Maori and Pakeha might be achieved. Most books about Maoris by Pakeha authors are not. written with the intention of being critical. In a multiracial society Pakehas must be concerned about their Maori brothers. I feel sure that many Maoris do not share Mr Habib's ‘contempt for he who dares to tread the sacred ground of my people’ for that would be breaking down the bridges which in many cases have been built between the two peoples. Finally may I add that I also enjoyed Mr Habib's poem ‘Pakeha’ in which he is more than generous. Yours sincerely, M. Hunt