Robert Nepia. (photo: john ashton). Whakarewarewa Maori Children's visit to Hutt and Wellington When 42 Maori youngsters from Whakarewarewa Maori school visited Lower Hutt recently, local residents competed keenly to billet them. On the first day it was known that billets were wanted offers came from 60 homes. The Maori children, whose ages ranged from 10 to 13, were the guests of the Eastern Hutt School which, though a public school, has a Maori headmaster, Mr William Sparks, and a Maori first assistant master, Mr E. H. Nepia, who comes from Nuhaka. Mr Sparks, who was born at Waikawa, a small Maori settlement near Picton, has spent most of his teaching career at Maori schools. He left the Maori Schools Branch in 1950 when he was appointed headmaster at Eastern Hutt, a school with some 550 children on the roll. The purpose of the Maori children's stay with the Eastern Hutt children was to make an educational tour of Wellington and the Hutt Valley. Mr F. H. Leonard, a master at the Whakarewarewa school and Mrs D. T. Alexander, wife of the headmaster, accompanied the youngsters on the trip. The visit was a sequel to another which a group from Whakarewarewa made to Auckland last year with Mr Alexander. That trip was such a success that he decided to send a group to the Wellington district. The billets question was a big one, but when Mr Sparks asked his pupils to put it to their parents the matter was solved. Many offers rolled in after the initial 60 were received. Some of the visiting children felt a little strange at their billets at first but their hosts made such cordial efforts to give them a good time and make them at home that the youngsters were soon revelling in the excitement. And there was plenty to be excited about. The itinerary included visits to the museum, zoo,