Two More Very Successful Leadership Conferences should women be allowed to speak on the marae? Do boarding schools produce prominent Maori leaders, and if so, why? Should Maori be taught in all New Zealand primary schools? How can extra coaching with school homework be made most effective? Should Maoris and Pakehas see more of each other socially, and how can this be brought about? What new qualities are required in Maori leaders today? Two very successful Young Leadership Conferences have been discussing these questions, and a hundred others, with much animation recently. At Tauranga a Conference last September was attended by 150 people from a wide area, and five discussion groups exchanged ideas on education, health, housing and employment. It was this Conference, too, that the much-debated question, ‘should women be able to speak on maraes?’ was raised. In some parts of the country they have done so for hundreds of years; in other parts, particularly in the Arawa district, they are never allowed to do this. There was much passionate oratory on this subject, especially from the Arawa men present. After the voting on the question had twice been disputed, tradition finally won by 29 votes to 27.

Second Ruatoria Conference There was also a Conference at Ruatoria at Labour Weekend. There had been one Conference there earlier this year, in May. This was so successful that committees were set up which studied specific topics raised at that time, and presented the results of their researches at this second conference. In the first conference the chief subject discussed was education; in the second, by a natural progression, the emphasis was on employment. Some of the delegates who discussed a wide range of subjects at the Waiariki Regional Maori Leadership Conference at Tauranga last September.