book the story of his work among the Gilbertese—which included, apart from administrative duties, a study of their social etiquette, mythology, fishing, mid-wifery, burial rites, and cooking among other things. He has some hard things to say about the Colonial Service and the shortsightedness of some of the first missionaries, but his loudest jokes are always cracked at his own expense. There was the time of his first speech in Gilbertese before a large and not very sympathetic audience, when his lack of grammar led him to say, “I am glad to meet you today, but I shall always be very, very glad to say goodbye to you.” It brought the house down. Some of his other experiences must have been truly terrifying, as when he went after an octopus with himself as live bait, and tiger shark fishing in a frail canoe scarcely big enough to hold him. He describes how the Gilbertese “call” the porpoise to their islands, inviting them to a feast, and after guiding them through the shallows to the beach with loving care, butcher them wholesale with shouts of derision. This was a feat he could not admire. But on the whole, he has only good to say of the island people he came to love, and if they taught him one tenth of the wisdom and humility that has gone into his book, they must be very fine people indeed.

TWO SCHOOLS NOW UNDER BOARD In keeping with unanimous decisions by the parents of the children attending them, two Maori schools will soon come under the control of the South Auckland Education Board. The Education Department has now agreed to the change. The schools are the Rangitane District High School, near Murupara, and the Waotu School, near Putaruru. This change in control is one of the first fruits of recommendations made to the Minister of Education by the special committee on Maori education late last year. The committee said it was not in the best interests of the Maori people for Maori and pakeha schools to exist side by side in the same small community, but it stressed that before making a change in control the Maori parents concerned should be fully consulted. In the case of the two schools which are now to come under the South Auckland Education Board all the parents had a chance to vote, and in both cases the vote was unanimous. Two-thirds of those who voted at the Rangitane School were Maoris, and the rest pakeha. It is expected that there will soon be other schools transferring to education board control, but the Education Department says that in all cases the safeguards for the children and for the Maori people suggested by the committee will be faithfully observed.

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