offered satisfaction at the Hui Topu. I have noticed that not all those who attend the Hui Topu are necessarily members of the Maori Anglican Church. There have been occasions, notably at Omahu last year, when the success of the hui has been contributed to by members of another church. This is one of the strengths of the Hui Topu. There have been increasing signs, especially during the past few years, of a common desire among most sections of the Maori people to draw themselves into closer communion as one people. Their thinking is passing from tribal thinking to national thinking. It was this feeling which first gave rise to the conception of kotahitanga nearly a hundred years ago. It is true that the word has since developed meaning, of drawing separated units into a united whole, is probably stronger today among thinking Maori than ever. It is this impulse, I think, which is to some extent behind the growth, year after year, of attendance at the Hui Topu. This is not to overlook, in any way, the religious and spiritual aspect of those gatherings. It is because the larger the attendance, the greater is the unifying value of it, that I am one of those who would like to see this growth continue. I do not see how the Hui Topu can be made to revert to smaller and more manageable forms without losing this great uniting character. Obviously, if the function is to be contained within one diocese, then similar functions will need to be inaugurated in the other diocese. I may be wrong, but I think that to divide one great function into four smaller ones would be a backward step. I hope it will not be taken as a criticism of the very well organised and successful Hui at Rotorua if I mention one thing I thought lacking. That was a central and communal marae. Though the arrangements were almost perfect for all other needs it seemed to me that there was lacking that opportunity for casual meetings, for leisurely gettogethers and for intimate korero, which has been so marked a feature in the past. It would be fatal to forget that the greatest needs of all people are for the things of the soul, the spirit and the heart, and not those of the intellect and the physical. There is one other thing I would like to mention in these after-thoughts on many hui topus. During the six years I have been attending them I have seen the great opportunity they afford for work among the young people. Many admirable attempts have been made to profit from the opportunity the occasion affords. As yet they have been experimental and, I think, only partly successful. A good deal of thinking and planning is still needed for the future. I know that many young people who attend the Hui find it their only integration with the work and practice of the Maori Anglican Church. Every elder knows the great need of young people for more and more attention and guidance in this difficult and bewildering world. The Hui Topu affords a field of work which can be approached by no other that I can think of. I know that young people I have spoken to have enjoyed their youth contacts at Hui Topu and it could very well become a means of bringing them into closer association with the work of parishes and youth clubs. Now, let me close by saying that I know only too well that any pakeha, however well-intentioned, can look at Maori matters only as an outsider ‘looking in’. None the less I cannot help but think that the annual Hui Topu gathering is only at the beginning of its potential importance and that much care and thought deserves to be given to its future. I trust, therefore, that these ‘after-thoughts’ will be accepted by my Maori friends as a sincere desire to be helpful to an institution which I respect and admire more with each year's experience of it.

UNIQUE RELATIONSHIP A unique relationship exists between the people of Taranaki and their museum, according to the Curator of the Canterbury Museum, Dr Roger Duff, who spent some days at New Plymouth some weeks ago to advise on the setting out of the museum. “I don't know of any other district in which people are looking forward so much to help build up a museum collection,” he said, and he remarked on the number of people who had presented artifacts to the museum. Asked why people were so anxious to give artifacts, Dr Duff gave two reasons: first, the lack of profit motive and second, the standard of the museum. “People in some places are just interested in turning things into money,” he said, “but fortunately there is very little buying and selling of Maori relics in Taranaki. Also, people know that it is going to be shown well and adequately safeguarded,” he added.