NEWS IN BRIEF At the last New Zealand Brass Bands' Championship contest, held at Wanganui, R. Matenga, of the Gisborne Silver Band, became the first Maori to win a solo event for two years in succession at a national championship. He plays the tenor horn. * * * * A feature of the first national re-union of New Zealand ex-prisoners-of-war, to be held at Rotorua from June 25 to 28, will be a great haangi. Maori ex-prisoners-of-war who will be attending the re-union will provide wild pigs for the feast, from the hills round Rotorua. * * * * Ten Maoris are serving in the New Zealand naval frigate Kaniere, which sailed for Korean waters in March. They are: H. H. Harris, of Pungarehu, Taranaki; N. Apatu, Hastings; T. Haami, Gisborne; J. B. Karipa, Hastings; T. Pongia, Whangarei; Te Reweti, Raetihi; T. A. Ruru, Gisborne; L. Hauraki, Dannevirke; R. King, Christchurch; and R. Timu, Hastings. * * * * Two Maori soldiers serving with K-force have lost their lives in the Korean war, both as a result of accidents. Boyce Whangapirito, of Ruatoria, was drowned in Korea in June, 1952; and Dickson Ngatai, of Tauranga, died in January, 1953, from injuries received in an accident in Korea. Ka nui te moteatea mo enei tama toa kua wehe atu nei. A few other Maoris serving with K-force have been wounded. * * * * A teacher at the Whakarewarewa Maori School, Mr F. Heketoro Leonard, of Rotorua, is accompanying, as guest artist, the New Zealand Brass Band which is now making a tour of Britain. He was taken with the band to train and lead the bandsmen in Maori items, including hakas, and to sing Maori songs with band accompaniment. Mr Leonard, who is aged 25, is a descendant of chiefs of the Arawa tribe of Rotorua, and of the Rangitane and Raukawa tribes, of Manawatu and Otaki. * * * * The Rev. Manu Bennett, who has been in charge of the Wellington Maori pastorate for the past 18 months, has been granted leave to take a temporary post in the diocese in Honolulu, in Hawaii. With his wife he will leave by air from Auckland on June 30, and will be away from New Zealand for about a year. Mr Bennett is a son of the first Bishop of Aotearoa, the late Bishop F. A. Bennett. He was educated at Te Aute College and St. John's College, Auckland, and for the last two years of the Second World War was a chaplain with the Maori Battalion. He hopes to further his studies at the University of Hawaii. * * * * Mr R. T. Ropiha, of Porangahau, Hawke's Bay, has gone to Australia on a bursary, to take the four-year veterinary course at Sydney University. Mr Ropiha is an old boy of Te Aute College. He has studied for four years at the University of Otago. The veterinary degree of Sydney University was completed last year by the well-known Maori Rugby halfback, Ranfurly Jacob, who has since been practising at Shannon, in the Manawatu. * * * * A long poi has been preserved for posterity by Mrs I. L. G. Sutherland, of Christchurch, wife of the late Professor Sutherland, who was a keen student of Maori life. Visiting D'Urville Island some years ago, Mrs Sutherland came upon an old Maori woman who remembered words so ancient that they cannot be translated. She memorised the chant, and also the 14 complicated figures in the movement. Now girls of Te Wai Pounamu College, in Canterbury, have learned the poi, and are taking it back to their people in all parts of New Zealand. * * * * The Deputy-Mayor of Rotorua, Mr Claude Anaru, has indicated that he will contest the Mayoralty of Rotorua at the next local body elections in October. There has been much support for Mr Anaru to stand for the Mayoralty, in view of the coming Royal tour. Mr Anaru, who is 51, was born on the East Coast, and went to Rotorua in 1919. Besides being the Deputy-Mayor of Rotorua, he is the secretary of the Arawa Trust Board.