in about six months and we would probably never need to learn any more, not for every-day purposes, that is. But the kind of knowledge we get by reading, that goes on forever. History? Read a book. How people live in China? Read a book. How to grow pumpkins? Read a book. How to build a house, bake a cake, travel from Auckland to Wellington? Read a book. To understand more about ourselves and other people? Read books, books, and more books! Do you see why I think reading is so important? Very well. But to do all these things the school has to have a very carefully worked out programme. Teachers are very conscious of this and all the time they are trying to keep up with new ideas about teaching children to read. At an evening course in Auckland recently, more than eight hundred teachers attended each night. Every class has an important part to play in the reading programme but in general the upper Standards are trying to do two things. They are trying to keep children's interest in reading high (they have to compete against radio, T.V. and pictures to do this), and they are trying to help children to find out the meaning of what they read.

How to Help Now, what can you do to help? If you live in town you can make sure that your child is a member of the children's section of the public library. This usually costs a small fee, but borrowing is free. Standard three or even earlier is about the right time for this. Make sure that the children borrow regularly and return their books on time. In the country, enquire from the school about library services. The National Library Service (God bless them) supply all the schools with an issue of books each year. Some schools allow the children to take these home (please see that they are returned, the school has to pay for lost books), but a book from the school library once every couple of weeks is really not enough for a child in Standard Four or higher. Most children in my class read three or more books in a week! Have a look at the books your children bring home; you will probably find that you can get some fun out of them too.

Time Well Spent Reading takes time. I know that it is a temptation to get Sonny to go out and chop some more wood, or his sister to go and give the baby its bottle. These jobs are important; children should help in the house. But reading is important too, and I don't think it will do any harm if, after tea, you turn off the radio for half an hour or so and say, ‘Sit down and read a book’. They will be getting something from it, and so will you. Well, there's my case in favour of reading. As a school teacher I think that learning to read is important, but not half as important as what comes from reading. Reading is a little like eating. You have to vary things a bit—fish and chips is all right now and then, but not every day of the week. A comic may do to fill in half an hour, but comics shouldn't be the only things that your boy or girl reads; they don't let them learn nearly enough about the things they need to know, things reading can tell them. The school's part was to start your children off in reading; your part is to see that they get the food their minds should have, and don't have to go hungry.

The Minister of Transport, Mr McAlpine, says that he is concerned at the number of Maoris killed on the roads each year. ‘Last year 64 were killed, nearly three times the rate of Europeans on a percentage basis. ‘That is the known number. With European names so common among Maoris, accidents involving Maoris are not necessarily reported to us as such. It's a pretty frightening picture.’ The Maori usually was a skilful driver, as he had proved during the war and as drivers of bulldozers. But let loose on the highway he was in many cases a menace to himself and others. He was too happy-go-lucky and seemed to drive a little more dangerously than other people. Auckland has now a metropolitan Maori choir. The Maori Community Centre Trust Board has formed a choral group, the members of which are people with any degree of Maori ancestry. The move is intended to give Maoris in the city an opportunity to engage in choral activities and to make a contribution to the cultural life of Auckland. ‘Our young people have proved themselves in the light entertainment field, and we feel they can make just as valuable a contribution in the choral field,’ said Mr Kelly Harris, the choirmaster and conductor of the choir. The trust board has insisted that the choir must not confine its singing to Maori music.