Mrs Miria Logan, Dominion President, leads a powerful welcome to the Hon. P. O. S. Skoglund, Minister of Education. Behind Mr Skoglund is Mrs Puhi Royal, retiring vice-president of these resolutions looks rather involved; an endless worm of a sentence twists and turns through the microphone. But the Dominion President or Secretary does not leave it at that. She explains the resolution then reads through the correspondence received last year from some luckless Minister of the Crown. He presents a long list of services offered by his department but omits all reference to the particular service women had asked for. Without pausing the Secretary continues in a monetone “That the reply received be not accepted as satisfactory and that this resolution is reaffirmed ….” Of course, Conference is sometimes satisfied without getting precisely what it asks for. Officials such as the Secretary for Maori Affairs, Mr M. Sullivan, would speak from time to time to explain why a request had not been granted. For instance, why the Department of Maori Affairs does not build rental houses. This has been a regular remit for many years. But when the women heard the full explanation, they dropped the remit; they realised that the department's resources were better spent on the houses built for sale and that it would not really help anyone if the policy was changed. When a sympathetic answer is given. Conference can be very generous. One can say that at no other Conference so much ‘aroha’ is shown to spokesmen defending government policies. An observer, Mr M. Taylor, of the Tourist and Publicity Department commented on this great generosity in his address, and he said that the Government does not really mind having constructive criticism from a body such as the Maori Women's Welfare League. Education and housing are still the main concerns of Conference delegates; nothing could be better than that responsible communtiy leaders think about these things and seek improvements. The Rt. Hon, W. Nash, in opening the Conference said that the League, like the Plunket Society, should be independent in spite of the Government support given that its value partly lies in its independence. For most delegates there is one supreme moment in Conference: when their own Branch's remit is read out. The women of the Branch have prepared for it, and they will want to hear all about it when the delegate comes back. Now she has to rise and speak to it, give her explanation and wait for the applause. This is usually forth-coming. There may also be arguments and it is only very occasionally that she has to swallow the sad and cruel moment of rejection. Even then her Branch can probably find some room for comfort: often the rejected remit is one which is already policy or covered elsewhere. MORE ABOUT THE CONFERENCE ON PAGE 58