ADVICE FROM OPUNAKE THE HEAD PREFECTS The boys' head prefect of Opunake District High School is Albert Wharemate (right), whose photo is also reproduced on the cover. He intends to go into the regular army. Heather Smith, the girls' head prefect, is shown on the left. Before going to Opunake we were told some of its history. We found Opunake was a place with a warlike and eventful past; around the town there were many old and famous Maori entrenchments. It was there that the Taranaki tribes had fought off the Waikato invaders in various grim battles. It would be hard to find all the places; the battlegrounds were overgrown with a luxuriant crop of weeds. No wonder, either, for nobody would use a plough on places like that. Curious investigators always had to be careful not to fall into the many concealed holes. So much for the past. Like all places with such a wild past, Opunake does look a little disappointing at first sight. One is accustomed to that, No amount of romance seems to prevent a place nowadays from being grazed by farm animals, and Opunake is covered with flat, luxuriant pasture almost everywhere. Walking through the place, one can see it has long been settled by the pakeha; several generations of settlers have left their mark on Opunake. Although the sea is only a street away, the settlers have concentrated mainly on the land, and turned their backs on the sea. As in so many places, the most impressive building is the school. The recently opened high school, particularly, has a comfortable, modern look. Opposite the school is the most up-to-date tearoom of the locality, very bright and with plenty of seats; that is where the children come to eat their lunches. It was explained to us that so many of the children come from farms, where everyone is busy, that a place where the children can buy lunches is particularly useful here. The study of the headmaster, Mr Burton, did not look at all formidable, as the rooms of headmasters do in books; perhaps those books all belong to the past, anyway. The light panelling reflected the bright sunlight falling from the large windows, the low, wide bookshelves did not have that forbidding look. I explained my rather vague mission—I came from Te Ao Hou, and would like to meet some of the children. Mr Burton was most obliging. If I wanted to meet some of his pupils, he would go and collect some, and I could ask them as many questions as I liked. Such a sudden, close meeting with a crowd of school children would be an