PEOPLE IN THE NEWS … Squadron Leader A. L. Tauwhare, M.B.E., recently paid his first visit to New Zealand in six years. He was here as chief navigator of the Royal Air Force jet Comet 2, which visited New Zealand while making a world survey of Air Force transport. Squadron Leader Tauwhare is believed to be the highest ranking Maori in the R.A.F. He had no sooner stepped off the tarmac at Ohakea than he was greeted by his two sisters, Miss Hira Tauwhare of Wellington and Mrs W. Minchin of Wellington. After a speedy check through the customs office, he was on his way to Feilding to see his mother for the first time in six years. Squadron Leader Tauwhare is the navigational leader of the entire Comet fleet of 10 aircraft operated by the R.A.F. He has flown the Atlantic on several occasions and in recent years has made a number of flights to Christmas Island in connection with nuclear weapon tests. A married man—he married an English girl—with a son aged 15 months, Squadron Leader Tauwhare is an old boy of Wairarapa College. He served with distinction during the second world war with the 488th New Zealand night fighter squadron in Europe and after 18 months in “Civvie Street” he enlisted with the R.A.F. He was awarded an M.B.E. in the 1956 New Year Honours. * * * Miss Ivy Rodan, a part-time Maori girl descended from the Arawa tribe is at present making a big impression as an entertainer and singer in England. She is commanding audiences of nine million as a television star in London. Miss Rodan, who is 23, had earned much prestige as a singer before going to England through winning major competition events in Auckland and Australia. She has had a meteoric rise in the London entertainment world since arriving there a few months ago. It is through her mother that she is descended from the Arawa tribe. On her father's side she is of Fijian descent. When Miss Rodan was 12 years old her voice was heard by the famed singer, Gladys Moncrieff, in Suva, Fiji. On her advice the girl was given the opportunity to take up singing seriously. Miss Rodan's repertoire ranges from grand opera to popular songs. She hopes to establish herself abroad as a star entertainer, and then return to Auckland to open a night club. Mr Ian Hugh Kawharu, returned from three years study in England, has taken up a position with the Maori Welfare Division. Mr Kawharu holds a B.Sc. from Victoria University College. In England he first of all did his B.A. at Cambridge. While at Oxford he has been studying for the Bachelor of Literature degree in anthropology, at the same time completing residential qualifications for a Doctorate of Philosophy which he can complete after his return to New Zealand. The research project which he has completed at Oxford and which he has submitted for his degree discusses Maori Land Tenure in the 19th Century. Mr Kawharu married a girl from Amsterdam, Holland, whom he met while on the continent during the university vacation 1956. A daughter was born to him this year, and baptised at the Exeter College chapel at Oxford by Bishop Panapa, who just happened to be in England at the time. Godfather was Mr Charles Bennett, now Ambassador in Malaya. Mr Kawharu is a member of the Ngati Whatua tribe of Auckland—North Auckland. He was a New Zealand University Blue in shooting and an Auckland University College blue in athletics. He was at different times a regular member of both the Auckland University College and the Victoria University College senior rugby fifteens. * * * K. R. Davis, the All Black and Maori half-back, has announced that because of a recurring leg injury he is retiring from first-class rugby. Davis has played in ten test matches for New Zealand and his 130 first-class games include many for New Zealand Maoris, three for the North Island and 54 for Auckland. He said that he might play for his club, Marist, as a “fill in” next season. * * * Mr G. K. Koea, chief reporter of the ‘Taranaki Daily News’, has been awarded the 1959 Imperial Relations Trust bursary for New Zealand journalists. He will be given a free passage by ship to and from England and during the year he spends there, will travel extensively. * * * One of the highest qualified of Maori nurses, Sister Ane Ngata, recently gained further distinction when she received her Post-Graduate Diploma in Medical Social Work at the nurses' postgraduate school, Wellington. Having completed the course, Sister Ngata will resume duty as District Health Nurse, Whangarei. Sister Ngata is a daughter of Mr and Mrs Paratene Ngata, Gisborne, and a grand-daughter of Honi Ngata, an elder brother of Sir Apirana.