We are proud to be able to offer our readers a message sent by the late Sir Peter Buck when Te Ao Hou was first published, shortly before his death. SIR PETER BUCK KO TE AO HOU Ka 50 tau inaianei, ka ki tetahi kaumatua, ‘No te Ao Maori matou, mo koutou mo nga tamariki Te Ao Hou.’ No te hui tuatahi a te kotahitanga o Te Aute i Taumata-o-mihi i Waiapu taua korero. Ko matou ko nga taitamariki o taua wa i ngakau nui ki te tuku i o matou matauranga o Te Ao Hou hei awhina i te Iwi. Ko Te Kotahitanga he hua no nga tumanako o Apirana Turupu Ngata, M.A., LL. B., i kuraina a ia ki Te Aute a ko ia te tamatuatahi o te Iwi Maori ki te whiwhi ki nga tohu matauranga o te Whare Wananga o te Pakeha. Kua eke a ia i taua wa ki nga taumata teitei o te Ao Hou, mo te mea i riro Maori mai i a ia nga honore o te Whare Wananga Pakeha. Ko Apirana te Hekeretari a me te Kaihautu o Te Kotahitanga kua horapa atu kia whakauru mai ai te hunga i kuraina ki Tipene me Paerata. Ko ta matou he hua i tetahi ingoa mo te Kotahitanga kia uru ai te katoa o te hunga taitamariki tane wahine e ngakau nui ana ki te awhina i te iwi i roto i te Ao Hou; a ka whakataua ko Te Ropu o Te Ao Hou. I tu a matou hui a tau i runga i nga marae maha, a i whakapuakitia e matou o matou nei whakaaro mo nga ahuatanga i te aroaro o te iwi. I tautokotia e nga kaumatua a matou moemoea, a matou wawata, otira i mohio iho ano ratou ma matou ano ma nga taitamariki e whakatutuki, ko ta ratou whakatauki: ‘Ka pu te ruha Ka Hao te rangatahi’ otira i manaakitia ta matou kaupapa e o matou kaumatua. I roto o nga tau ka ngaro Te Ropu o Te Ao Hou, engari ko tona wairua kei te ora tonu. Ko nga mea tuhonohono i a matou. I nga morehu o taua ropu ko te aroha ki te Iwi, ko te ngakau nui ki nga mahi, ko te aroha tetahi ki tetahi a i kiia ake ra he ngaro ingoa noaiho. Ma te wa e whakaatu nga painga a taua ropu ki te iwi a ki Niu Tireni—tena te wa ka whakakaupapatia ona korero ki ro pukapuka. Ko te rangatahi i a matou kua kanukanu. Kua riro te tokomaha o matou ki o tatou tipuna i te Po ko Ta Apirana tera, ko Te Maui Pomare, ko Taiporutu Mitchell, ko Takuta TE AO HOU — THE NEW WORLD Over 50 years ago, an old man said, ‘We old people are not clear of the age of stone, te ao hou is for you young people.’ The speech was made at the first conference of the newly formed Te Aute College Old Boys' Association held at Taumata-o-mihi in the Waiapu district. We young people of that era were full of enthusiasm to make our education of service to our people. The Association had been inspired by Apirana Turupa Ngata, M.A., LL.B., a Te Aute old boy and the first Maori graduate of the University of New Zealand. He had accomplished something in the new world even then, for he had proved that students of Maori blood could enter the Whare Wananga of the pakeha and graduate with honour. Apirana was the organizing secretary of the Association, and the movement spread to St. Stephen's College and Three Kings Wesleyan College in Auckland. We had to formulate a new name that would include not only the old boys of sister colleges, but also all young men and women who desired to work for the uplift and prestige of their race in the new era which was opening before them. And so the Young Maori Party was born. Annual conferences were held on different maraes, and we discussed with the old people the problems which lay before us. They were hearty in their verbal support of our dreams and aspirations, but they realized that action had to come from the younger and more vigorous generation which was to take their place. They summed up the situation with the old adage: The old net is laid aside, The new net goes a-fishing. And so, with the blessing of our elders, the new net went a-fishing. In the course of time, the Young Maori Party faded away as an organization and a name, but its spirit lived on. We were bound together by links of racial affection, respect, and common endeavour, and no longer needed a distinguishing name as a symbol. What the Young Maori Party accomplished for the Maori people and New Zealand, the historians of the future will be better able to appraise through the perspective of time. The new net, that we commenced to haul over half a century ago, has become frayed and