Matakana School. white sodden roads made by God. The beaches are only visible when the tide is out; at flood times the waves beat against the carriages and wear out the harness in a few months. The big bus, the champion, has only six miles to go, but she takes three hours over them and more in rough weather. This bus is like a second home. During the winter it is probably lit with an oil lamp and the children sing the songs they have learnt in school while the waves ram against the bus and ebb and flow across the floor. This is the school which seems to have reached a per-child record for the Post Office savings contributions. The total collected is around £1,200; some of the parents give their children five pound notes tor their contributions. Most of the older people had a very rudimentary education; the school was a new element in their lives. Successive headmasters brought the new ideas of mainland civilisation not only to the children but also to the parents. The present head, Mr Nicholls, recognised that the main problem for Matakana is that of intensifying production on the large areas cultivated or grassed. The Matakana Young Farmers' Club, which has done so much, with the leadership of the agriculture instructor, Mr Allo, was started through his initiative. In the crude hard struggle with the elements in which the Matakana Islanders Field about to be planted in maize.