is not followed by a translation as is the case with most of the other proverbs quoted, but by an explanation: ‘at night all are assembled, by day all are scattered.’ My translation is ‘near at night, vanished by day.’ The meaning of this is that resolutions made in the evening often fade on the morrow. This is also the meaning of a more commonly used proverb which is not included here: ‘he ahiahi tukaha, he ata pahorehore.’

Much Consultation Necessary I have not the space to point out all of the isolated inadequacies in the translations and explanations given in this collection. One hopes, however, that when the time comes for a new edition, the authors will go for advice to as wide a range of people as possible; it would be particularly useful to consult authorities from the various tribes. Only in this way could an adequate and comprehensive collection be made. Nevertheless this is a distinctly useful book, coming as it does at a time when there are many signs that interest in the Maori language is increasing. Proverbs contain much of the wisdom of our ancestors; they express universal truths and eternal values that we, their descendants, should be ever mindful of. These messages from the past and from our dead have a special significance in setting our sights on the hazardous pathways of the twentieth century.

Wild Honey: Poems by Alistair Campbell Oxford University Press, 19/- reviewed by James K. Baxter It is a sign of the breaking of barriers between New Zealand and England—the falling into disuse of the old fallacy of condescension towards ‘colonial’ culture—that the Oxford University Press has published yet another book of verse by a New Zealand poet. Enough good poems had been written here ten years ago to warrant overseas publication; but English publishers had not yet changed their habits of thought. The Oxford University Press is to be congratulated on its timely and positive move, and, in the case of Mr Campbell's book, on a superb format and cover design. Mr Campbell has suffered perhaps from being regarded as pre-eminently a poet of youth—the power, glamour, and legendary invulnerability of youth. It was this quality in his work which made him our most popular poet. The poems deserved it; but that's beside the point. People have always wanted poets to be undomesticated creatures, sensuous though not sensual, survivors from Eden, myth-makers, fated to die young. The poets disappoint them. In Mr Campbell's case, after a long period of hibernation, he began to write different poems —stripped, hard, ironical poems, relying on structure rather than glamour to carry the mood— ‘Sometimes the weather clears and far below I see the plains—what brought us to this height? The bones of fallen climbers shine like snow, And I secure each foothold as I go. ‘In my exhaustion it has sometimes seemed That we were climbing up the face of God, And that the water falling on us streamed From His eyes — but I woke and knew I dreamed, ‘And wept bitterly, though I hid my tears, Pretending to be gay when I despaired … My children climb the mountain unawares As eagerly as up a flight of stairs …' I quote these lines from ‘The Climber’, a poem of Mr Campbell's second period, as good as any he wrote in his first, not excluding even the magnificent and well-known ‘Elegy’. Among new material, there is also the sequence ‘Sanctuary of Spirits’, written originally for radio, in which Mr Campbell makes a mainly successful use of episodes from the career of Te Rauparaha. Any reader interested in a modern handling of Maori themes should buy the book and read it.

? A farewell evening for Miss W. E. Pariare of Tauranga, who recently retired after four years as a Maori Welfare Officer, was held last May at the Judea Pa, Tauranga. Miss Paraire took up welfare work at the instigation of the late Dr Maharaia Winiata. She worked with the post office for 14 years before this and during the last war she served five years with the W.A.A.F. As a welfare officer she cared for nearly 500 families from Katikati, Matata, Matamata and the Tauranga area. She was also interested in forming women's welfare league branches in Rereatukania, Athenree, Okauia, Bethlehem, Waitao, Wairoa and Merivale.