limbs. Her father's toes, that splayed out like open umbrellas, wiggled some more as if inviting her to play “Piggly Wiggly” with them. They were all good feet, there, feet that had worked hard carrying their owners up and down many a row of kumara and corn and many times down to the pipi and kutai beds to gather kai for the little ones at home. The feet began to shuffle now, giving off farewell salutes and toe-y odours as their owners gathered them to leave. That night as Hinerangi lay in her narrow bed, she pondered all she had heard from her vantage point beneath the kitchen table. Outside, the rain beat heavily on the tin roof of the little shack, but Hinerangi was warm and comfortable inside. She smiled happily as she listened to the staccato notes of the raindrops. They sounded like popcorn pelting against the lid of a great big pot. “God must be cooking a popcorn kai for the angels tonight,” she smiled. She felt intimately close to God for He was the very core of the beauty which surrounded her, and was not He, after all, her Heavenly Father? And did not he always cradle their frail little house in the hollow of His arms every time an angry storm shook the house to its very foundation? With God as their Father and Protector, all would be well. Always. All Ways. Hinerangi was confident of this and the knowledge made her glad. Just then the soft cadences of her mother's voice reached her ears through the curtained-off bedroom door. “That was a good talk we had with those people today,” her mother said. “Yes,” her father replied in his deep, rich voice. After a short pause, her mother's voice rose again. “I wish I had the money to put all the kids through college.” With a deep sigh, her father replied, “Yeah, so do I.” When with a lift to his voice he continued, “I've been making inquiries ‘bout these here free scholarships the Gov'ment's offerin' to bright Maori kids. They sound pretty good, too. The Gov'ment pays the tuition and the parents have to pay for the school uniforms and that stuff. We should be able to manage the clothing part if any of our kids show any ability to win a scholarship. I'm figurin' on buyin' another heifer. It'll be big enough t' sell by the time any of our kids are ready for that scholarship.” “What wonderful opportunities our kids have today.” Hinerangi's mother added. “What with all these scholarships, surely this higher education will help our Maori people to adjust more easily to the pakeha world.” “This isn't really the pakeha world.” Hinerangi's Father added. “This is the New World—for Maori and Pakeha alike. The Old World's had its day. Our kids are facing the new world now. And better education ought' help both the Maori and the Pakeha to fit into it.” “Te Ao Hou!” her mother breathed almost with reverence. “The New World, that's what it is. The Brave World! My heart goes out to the younger generation of both Maori and Pakeha. They've got to travel side by side to make it a better world. They must journey through life as brothers, not only of one another, but brothers of the whole world.” “Brothers of the Pakeha! Brothers in the New World! Ah! That's what I'm going to be: A Brother to everyone, even though I'm just a girl,” breathed Hinerangi. “Te Ao Hou! God bless you.” Then she curled up like a little kitten and fell fast asleep. ⋆ ⋆ ⋆

NEWS IN BRIEF …. The first girl from Hukarere Maori Girls' College, Napier, to be awarded an American Field Service Scholarship and the only one from Napier this year is 16-year-old Marama Paewai. The final confirmation of the award, with details of where she will be staying and when she will leave for U.S.A., came recently after a wait of nearly a month since she first received notification of her success. Marama, a half-sister to a former outstanding Rugby player, Dr M. N. Paewai, will leave Auckland on August 24 by plane to spend a year in the United States. In San Francisco she will be met by officials of the Field Scholarship Organisation and will be taken to her home for the year which will be in Des Moines, Iowa. There she will attend Roosevelt High School as a pupil in what is equivalent to Form 6A in New Zealand. During the year she will be expected to address various organisations on aspects of New Zealand life. Marama Paewai's home is in Dannevirke. She has been a pupil of Hukarere College for some years now. She was dux of the school last year, is captain of the school basketball team, and is head prefect. ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ Some three thousand people attended the Hui Topu of the Waipu Diocese at Manutuke, Gisborne, last May. The Hikurangi party from the Ruatoria district won all the cultural and choral competitions excepting the Senior Cultural section, which was won by Turanganui of Gisborne. Results of the competitions were: Junior choirs: Hikurangi 1, Waiapu 2. Senior choirs: Hikurangi 1. Whangara 2, Te Ngae 3. Junior Cultural: Hikurangi 1, Waiapu 2, Te Reinga 3. Senior Cultural: Turanganui 1, Hikurangi and Waiapu equal 2, Waipatu 3.