He hoped it would keep the Maori people in proud possession of their land. Listening to the Minister were near to a hundred Maori clergy and an equal number of laymen from all parts of New Zealand. This was the first Maori Section conference to be held in Tokerau and it attracted a record audience; people from all parts of the North, previously prevented by the long distances from attending the conferences, showed great interest and edification. Among those attending the conference were the Rt. Rev. J. T. Holland, Bishop of Waikato; the Rt. Rev. W. J. Simkin, Bishop of Auckland and the Rt. Rev. W. N. Panapa, Bishop of Aotearoa; the Very Rev. J. G. Laughton, Superintendent of the Presbyterian Maori Mission; the Very Rev. G. I. Laurenson, Superintendent of the Methodist Maori Mission; the Secretary of Maori Affairs, Mr T. T. Ropiha, I.S.O.; and Mr J. te Herekiekie Grace, Secretary to the Minister of Maori Affairs. The first full day of Conference (Wednesday, February 16) was devoted to reports and to general addresses by Bishop Holland and Dr Winiata; the day ended in a film lecture on the Evanston meeting of the World Council of Churches. An instructive talk was also given by Rev. Eru Te Tuhi who had visited the Maori boys at Invercargill Borstal on behalf of the Maori Section. On that visit, lasting a week, he had interviewed some sixty youths and had been much impressed with the excellence of occupational training at the borstal and the sympathetic attitude of the staff. He had talked to the boys about their home and family and asked them what they intended to do when they came out. Many were too ashamed to want to go home, and Rev. Te Tuhi thought this most regrettable. He thought the boys needed more visitation. The Maori Section had asked the government to transfer the boys to an institution in the North Island where visits from relations were easier to arrange. The Justice Department was unable to do this, but offered to pay the expenses of Maori clergymen to visit Invercargill. The Maori Section resolved to organize four such visits each year, two from the Anglican Church and one each from the Presbyterian and Methodist Churches. Dr. Winiata's address dwelt largely on the benefit of overseas study for Maoris. As a result, a motion was passed recommending that some Maori clergy should be temporarily released from parish duties for study overseas. Thursday started with plenty of excitement. An address by Miss Joan Metge, lecturer in Geography at Auckland University College, on Maori life in Auckland started off a fierce debate mainly about the influence enjoyed by the Auckland tribal committees and Community Centre, and about the rather vague question whether any Maoris are “negative”. There was general agreement that Miss Metge had provided a most penetrating and illuminating survey of a crucial subject. After a discussion on evangelism, the meeting settled down to the two subjects on which it was to make firm policy statements; race relations and temperance. It is especially here that, as Dr. Winiata said, the Maori Section is seeking to give the Maori people a new type of leadership. We think that the discussion on both race relations and temperance have produced some valuable ideas and that these ideas, reached by a representative group of Maori people all over the country, ought to carry weight. It is too early to say just how successful the Maori Section's lead will be, The Bishop of Aotearoa, the Rt Rev W. N. Panapa, chaired the meeting at Otiria. (Northern Advocate Photograph.) as it was only at Otiria that policies on race relations and temperance were laid down—and they were the first subjects to be fundamentally discussed—nor did they get much publicity. Regarding the drink question, Maori clergy have two proposals. They are to send deputations to tribal committees to ask them to help in fighting intemperance. They have, furthermore, formed a temperance society whose members “for the welfare of the Maori race take a pledge of total abstinence from the beverage use of intoxicating liquors.” The society will also aim at building up public conviction against the evils of intemperance. As the pledge does not apply to sacramental wine, people from every denomination are free to join it. We can see that the society can attract two