Flowers were Blooming At Kawiu Pa, a small, neatly built meeting-house named Te Hui a o Kahukura was opened in March. In the Spring issue of Te Ao Hou, we described the efforts of this small community in establishing, for the first time in pakeha days, a fully fledged marae of the Muaupoko people. We saw Polly teaching the ladies of the pa how to make mats for the new house, and we saw the dining hall and the other facilities built up during the last few years. But of the crowning achievement, the meeting house, only the framework stood up and the marae grounds were still untouched. When we visited Kawiu Pa during the opening ceremonies, the house was fully completed, the marae grounds were in splendid lawn and lined with a lovely flower border. As one of the ladies explained, the flowers had been selected so that they would all bloom in March, for the opening. And March was also the right season for the puhi, which was served in great quantities. Visitors arrived from all over the Island, particularly from Wairoa and the East Coast, as a prominent Wairoa chief, Wiremu Waipuke, who died a year ago, had married a woman from Kawiu Pa. It was sad to hear that Polly was not amongst those who were celebrating the opening of the meeting house. She who had done so much to prepare for the great day, was lying in bed too ill now to come down to the marae.

NEW ACT NOW IN FORCE On April 1, the provisions of the new Maori Affairs Act, 1953, began to apply. In several articles in Te Ao Hou we have discussed this Act, describing first the original Bill, and later, a number of changes that were made as a result of representations by the Maori people. The Bill was passed almost exactly in the form shown in the Spring issue. There was, however, one important change since that article was written, namely, that the provisions restricting the succession to small uneconomic land interests now apply only to land valued under £25, instead of £50 in the original Bill. Copies of the Act can be obtained by sending eight shillings a copy, plus fourpence a copy postage to the Government Printer, Wellington, C.I * * * * An outstanding Maori Rugby forward in Dunedin last season, P. W. Tapsell, is playing in Auckland this year. He is taking the final year of his medical course at the Auckland Public Hospital. As a side-row forward, Tapsell represented Otago and New Zealand Universities last season. Before he went to the University of Otago he attended the Rotorua Boys' High School. * * * * Maori women in pas around Hastings earlier this year competed in their first gardening competition. Out of about a dozen entries, the gardens of Mrs Ormsby, Kohupatiki, and of Mrs Edwards, Bridge Pa, were placed first equal.