and furthermore enjoyed giving their respective addresses. Add to that, personality, and ability to understand the Maori situation, plus a sincere desire to help and it will be understood why we the Welfare Officers rate this Course the best ever held. Dealing with the first sentence in this paragraph, almost in every subject parallels with past history could be made whether it was with Child Care, Education or Budgeting. The very nature of the Course suggested the Whare-wananga of old with each day beginning and ending with a short Karakia. Certainly, only a short prayer but delivered with equal fervour and sincerity with those incantations of old. And the Tohunga, was he present too? The Tohunga, the paramount being, the navigator, the astronomer, the psychiatrist, the doctor, the tutor…I would say yes and again I pay tribute to our lecturers who in part re-portrayed the duty of that once prominent gentleman. The venue of the Course, how does that compare with the past? Situated in the low rolling hills of Paraparaumu the Conference Room encased completely with large windows overlooking the sea, and a stone's throw from Kapiti Island and the shadow of Te Rauparaha dancing across the rolling waters really made the atmosphere tense and exciting and it was this very scene that inspired and provoked a remark at the conclusion of the discussion on Budgeting, when we all subscribed to the opinion that it was something new to the Maori. Yes, new to the Maori of today.

Budgeting How could it best be advocated to our people as the proper way to set our daily lives? By the use of the graph system of division with each item cut to fit its proper place in the family income. That would be the method by which we could deliver our subject on the appropriate occasion. Certainly the idea is good we all agreed. But then, budgeting to the Maori is not new it is something that is inherent and only requires a re-awakening as to its suitability and usefulness to us the Maori of today. Let us turn back the clock six hundred years to the period when a fleet of canoes left the shores of Hawaiki and what do we see? Months and perhaps years of preparation for the journey across the vast oceans with only a small canoe to carry the manpower, the energy…the instruments…the stores of food, all within that limited space. Every item calculated to give its full capacity, every muscle trained and tested to its full ability. Sir Peter Buck in his “Vikings of the Sunrise” calls it the budgeting of resources. We can correctly assume that that was no hit or miss journey but maybe “Tangaroa” had some protecting influence on the safe conduct of those budget minded Polynesian Vikings. Nevertheless there is the lesson which we can all do well to remember.

Other Lessons What other matters arose that would be of general interest? Such terms as non-directive approach as against direct approach to any problem. This means to let the people decide on the course they wish to pursue (let them direct their own course) and restrict our work to guiding them (showing them by what means they can get to where they want to go). The first is recommended by the School of Social Science not only as a method of approach but also as a means of obtaining a solution to a problem. And then again we have another new term…emotional maturity. To dissect and analyse needs a scientific mind to determine the full implication and meaning of this term. Are we, or is anybody emotionally mature? To what extent or degree does one claim this maturity? I cannot give a satisfactory answer to that one.

The Value of Social Science Some of our Welfare Officers are products of the School of Social Science. Many of us are not and cannot claim any academic qualifications either, but the point arises as to whether these qualifications are absolutely necessary or not and if they are whether they should come before one undertakes the work of a Welfare Officer or after they have had the experience of the outside world: I am reminded of the words spoken by a German social worker, Mr A. T. Blaschke, who attended a University Refresher Course with a group of Social Workers in Wellington in 1952. He was himself a student at the Berlin Seminary of Social Workers prior to the Nazi Regime. These were his words: No one can really know just how much the other person is suffering unless he has suffered the same experience himself. No one can full understand the meaning of loneliness until he has stood alone in the world. To acquire this experience one does not need academic qualifications, and understanding does not necessarily come of a university training but academic training will be a help. The true social worker does not regard his work as a job or a profession, but as calling”. There are some who say proudly. “I am a product of the School of Hard Knocks and experience was my Master”. The school may well have taught the lesson but possibly a little of the scientific skill could have diminished the hard knocks.' The German gentleman's final analysis was very well delivered in this fashion: ‘I advocate that future social workers should undertake a course of alternate six month periods in various occupations in the field with the people with whom he intends to work—without pay…and the other six months at the University so that in the course of time will have gained experience and the acquired skill of the Social Scientist.'