But it was hard working while the others went out. She would often hear the boys' laughter as they called for the girls in the evening, then before they all left, they would ask her again to go out. She still smoked, however, for she believed it brought relief from the tension of constant study. Then one day, Bob asked Mahu to the pictures. She had refused, but then he asked if he could stay with her at the Hostel for a while. Since men were not allowed inside the hostel, Mahu suggested a walk. That was the beginning. Bob called again later in the week, and again in the weekend, and soon they were “going steady”. Mahu forced herself all day to decline Bob's offer in the evening, but when the phone rang, it was always “Yes, Bob.” They went to dances, pictures, parties, midnight swims, everywhere. Her night activities grew, and her day studies? Mahu could feel herself losing. She knew she was failing. There seemed no more will-power left. No urge to work, no inspiration. In her letters home she felt she was lying to her people, and living the life of a hypocrite. So what did she do about it? What would anyone else do? It was easy to choose dances and parties before study; and anyway what good would Anthropology do her, and why should she take Maori studies when she could already speak the language fluently? Hardly anybody in Auckland could understand her, anyway. So ended the ambition of the Herewini family. Mahu left Varsity and found a job at the Department Store with Makere. There was no study involved and the work was easy, but more important, she and Bob could date almost every night. Then one day Mahu received a shock. She saw someone whom she had dreaded meeting. Jimmy, the boy from the village. He had changed his dress to the city style and his hair was longer, but apart from that, he was the same. Jimmy caught her eye, and although surprised that she should be working in the store, began walking towards her. Mahu trembled. Jimmy would be ashamed of her. She remembered the bus trip, and their plans to work for a social position and become Maori leaders. She had failed. What would he say to her? She looked fearfully at the smiling face. “Tena Koe, Hemi.” He started hard at her pretty face. She could feel his eyes penetrating her shallow mind. She shrank back. He was ashamed. What would he say? After all her ambitions to become a leading Maori, she was nothing. Then she was sorry. She wished she had been true and honest with her promises and withheld her ambitions like Jimmy did, and mastered the Pakeha world. But hold, he was going to speak. “Hi, Mahu, come to a party tonight.”

NEWS IN BRIEF….

MAORI CANOE DISCOVERED An old Maori trading canoe, a link with the early days of Rawene, is to be mounted in the main street of Rawene. Found in the Waima River, the totara canoe is believed to be 200 years old. It will be restored by Maori craftsmen and mounted on a base with a plaque giving its history. ⋆ ⋆ ⋆

THE SMALLEST BOOK The smallest book ever published in New Zealand has just been printed by the well-known New Zealand publishers, A. H. and A. W. Reed. It is Reed's Lilliput Maori dictionary, which weighs only an ounce, is 1 ½ inches high and one inch wide and half an inch thick. It contains 576 pages of legible print. It was printed for Reeds in Germany.

THE POHUTUKAWA TREE IN WALES Towards the end of 1960, The Pohutukawa Tree, by Bruce Mason, was presented by the Theatr Fach (Little Theatre) of Llangefni, Anglesey, Wales. The producer, Mr F. G. Fisher, saw the play on BBC Television and decided to put it on in the small Welsh village. Not knowing what a pohutukawa looked like, Mr Fisher sent his designer some 300 miles to Kew Gardens, London, where there was one. The designer returned with a sprig which he said fell to the ground as he was passing! From this sprig, Mr Fisher built a complete tree, flowers and all. For the Maori waiata in the wedding scene, Mr Fisher took a 13th century Welsh lament, changed some of the vowels and asked a Welsh composer to set it in a primitive idiom. The result was an interesting combination of Welsh and Maori. It is understood that the play will be taken on a Welsh provincial tour during 1961.