District Nurse or Chest Clinic doctor should be able to get a copy for you. The booklets are available from the Health Education Branch of the Department of Health at Wellington. In the booklet I have touched on a variety of other aspects of the tuberculosis problem which I could not deal with in this article. However, I have tried to show two things which are of great importance in the dealing with tuberculosis, namely, a wide use of X-rays and paying heed to the Warning Signals. So don't forget! Make use of X-rays as requested! Patronise the Mobile X-ray Unit when it visits your district! Heed the Warning Signals and do something about them! Lastly, do carry out the doctor's advice! Don't forget that team work—doctors, nurses and the Maori people—is essential. The Maori death rate from T.B. has fallen greatly of recent years. With team work, all pulling together, T.B. amongst the Maori people could be wiped out, and that before so very long.

MARATHON OF TALK The Wellington Regional Council of Adult Education has announced that it will sponsor a Maori conference lasting a week, to be held at Massey College. Seventy Maoris from all parts of the country will discuss the present position of the Maori. Eighteen years have now passed since there was held in Auckland, under the auspices of Sir Apirana Ngata, Prof. Belshaw and others, a ‘Young Maori Conference,’ at which younger Maori leaders were given an opportunity to discuss many Maori questions. It was a very fruitful conference during which many ideas were brought forward that later became reality. For instance the present ‘Welfare Division’ of the Department of Maori Affairs, the tribal committees and executives and the Maori Women's Welfare League were all foreshadowed in some way during that conference. Another idea put forward at that time and since realised was the publication by the government of a magazine like Te Ao Hou. The chief organizers of this meeting are the three Maori Adult Education Tutor-Organizers, Mr William Parker from Wellington, and Dr Maharaia Winiata and Mr Matiu Te Hau from Auckland. Detail work was done by a Wellington committee helping Mr Parker. Participants of the conference were chosen from all districts by the Adult Education Tutors drawing on their knowledge and experience of the people who could best participate and later carry out the spirit of the discussions. Of course such a selection must always be arbitrary, if there are only seventy people invited (there are no more beds) and if the selecting is done by such a small panel. No doubt many extremely good people have been left out and it should be possible for the net to be cast wider at subsequent meetings. Participants are sponsored by their local groups. It is hoped that the opening speech will be given by Professor R. O. Piddington. Dr C. E. Beeby has agreed to chair the discussion on Maori Education. There will also be discussions on economic problems and on the social aspects of the Maori health problem. The role of Maoritanga and culture contact will also be studied. A novel idea for this conference is to have ‘workshop sessions’ chaired by Messrs Geddes, Ritchie and Booth, three men who have done detailed research on the Maori situation in respectively: the city of Auckland, the new town of Murupara, and the village Panguru. General ideas can then flow from a discussion on what was observed in detail in these places.

PRESERVING THE WEKA—ALIVE Land owners on the East Coast are being asked by the Wildlife Division of the Department of Internal Affairs to help in protecting and preserving the rare North Island weka, a bird which, once numerous, is in danger of becoming extinct. The appeal is being made through the Poverty Bay Catchment Board, which will distribute to landowners, on the Department's behalf, a circular asking them to do what they can to discourage the destruction of the weka on their properties, and to report any cases of illegal taking of the bird which come to their notice. The Department has made available, through the Gisborne-East Coast Acclimatization Society, a supply of calico protection notices which may be had on request. Once, wekas were plentiful in most parts of the North Island. Today, though fully protected by the law, they are found in plenty only in an area of some 25 miles by 12 between Tolaga Bay and Gisborne, and not so plentifully in a surrounding area from North of Tolaga Bay to Tiniroto. The Department, concerned with the preservation of the weka, says, “once a species has become extinct, vain regrets cannot bring it back, as people in other districts of the North Island now realise.”

MAORI MUSICIAN Mr Sydney Tawera, who last year at the Wellington competitions won the Nimmo shield, two cups and a gold medal for singing, has left for London, where he will try to enter the Royal College of Music to further his singing studies. Various tribes, particularly Ngati Kahungunu, of which he is a member, have been raising money to help him in his venture.