WHINA COOPER When Whina Cooper became first president of the Maori Women's Welfare League in 1951, there were many who asked the question: Who is Whina Cooper? Today there are few Maoris, particularly Maori women, who could not answer that question. Though for years prior to 1951 Mrs Cooper had worked vigorously on Maori welfare projects her efforts had to that time been mainly concentrated in her native Hokianga area. Since 1951, however, she has become a national figure. It was a long, hard road of achievement that took Mrs Cooper to the honoured position she now holds. Though she is of a high-born family there was a stage in her life when, as a married woman with a young family, she had no material possessions and lived in a nikau whare at remote Te Karaka, on the Hokianga river. Though it is as Dominion President of the Maori Women's Welfare League she has become widest known some of the other positions she has held give her a claim to special mention as a national figure. Two posts in particular—President of the Panguru Branch of Federated Farmers (not women's division), and of the North Hokianga Rugby Union—mark her out as the forceful, enterprising woman she is. No other New Zealand woman, as far as is known, has held similar positions. Inquiries were once made overseas to try and trace any women holding down similar offices and none could be found. It may be, therefore, The photograph of Mrs Whina Cooper at the 1955 Dominion Conference is by Hill Thomas Limited. that Mrs Cooper is the only women in the world to have held two such positions. Mrs Cooper is a tremendous personality with few, if any, inhibitions and an “afraid of no one” complex. Of the many qualities which have brought her to the top the most conspicuous are those that single her out as a fighter—a fiery, hard hitting one too. She will not hesitate to demand when she judges that to be the most effective tactic, no matter how high or mighty be the person of whom she is demanding. She will relentlessly pursue her case till she gets satisfaction—there is no retreat. But she knows too that there are times when silence and meekness are golden. Her dynamic personality has been a wonderful asset, particularly in recent years when she has been one of the foremost in establishing and guiding the Maori Women's Welfare League. Since the league's first conference in 1951 hers has been the responsibility for “selling” the league to the people. She has done this remarkably well. It is under her leadership that the league has become the successful and effictive body that it is. Indivisible from the “personality” side of her however, is her clear, really tidy mindedness. She grasps in an instance the ramifications of a situation and quickly makes the approprate decisions. Mrs Cooper has dominated many positions where one would expect to find a man at the helm. If this is her destiny then perhaps we can see the beginning of it at the time of her birth when she was baptised with the name Joseph. At birth it was thought she was going to die, so in great haste in the darkness her father baptised her, Joseph, thinking his child a boy. That