The Colleges' third production, the operetta was full of variety, with singing, dancing and drama. ‘OUR HERITAGE’ An Operetta at Turakina Maori Girls' College by Rowley Habib Recently I was fortunate enough to see an operetta performed by the Turakina Maori Girls' College. It was a fullscale performance in the grandest tradition, a full evening's entertainment lasting two and a half hours. For my money the show was well worth it. It was an absorbing entertainment, full of variety—songs, dances and drama. There were many solo performances which gave the girls plenty of scope to show off their individual talents, and what's more, it had a powerful, grand and touching plot running through it. This, together with the Maori's special bent towards the dramatic—the ‘big moment’—went to make up a first-class entertainment. And judging from the reaction of the audience—an audience which must have been 99 per cent Pakeha—they must loved it. If there was any fault at all in the production I thought that it might have been through over-much singing. After the show, I tried to think of one Maori song I knew that had not been sang once, if not two or three times in the performance, and I could not recall one. I thought that a bit of dialogue here and there would have broken the monotony of this, and would certainly have given the performers a breather. Once or twice, I had the delightful suspicion that some of the songs may have been specially composed for the performance. If so, hats off to the people concerned.

College's Third Production This is the college's third production, and is the brain-child of Miss Alison Gray, a member of the staff. The first production, ‘Hinemoa and Tutanekai’, was staged in 1959. Then there was a gap, due to Miss Gray's absence. On her return ‘Uenuku and the Mist Girl’ followed in 1962, then ‘Our Heritage’ the following year. Considering the grand scale of the thing and the number of songs that had to be learnt, the operetta was a very considerable undertaking. It performed to capacity crowds on the three nights it was held, with people standing at the back and along the sides of the hall. The production was held in the college assembly hall. This, I thought, was rather unfortunate, as the seating was not sufficient, and