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offers tourists some advice. That ‘Maoris appreciate any sincere interest in their life or the life of their ancestors, but do not like to be viewed as exhibits or curiosities’, is a very true comment indeed. The one feature of this book which disturbs me is the use of a technique generally associated with the promotion of tourism. Dressing up Maori maids and warriors in present-day Maori concert regalia and posing them along-side canoes in a museum, and in front of carved houses, does nothing but perpetuate the impression which so many overseas people have that Maoris still dress and live like this. The photographs used here are also of the tourist type. The colour is far too strong and over-glorified. These pictures are in such unhappy contrast with the other ones that I feel it is a pity that the author used them. Notwithstanding this however, Mr Barrow has produced the most comprehensive, attractive, and easily read book which has so far been published on the subject. It caters for the amateur and the expert, the young and the old, and will do much to foster a greater appreciation of the classic Maori arts.

A New Maori Migration by Joan Metge Athlone Press and Melbourne University Press, 45s reviewed by John Harréa This is much the most detailed description of contemporary Maori life that has yet been published—in fact the detail may be a bit over-powering for the casual reader, although such readers are greatly assisted by short clear conclusions at the end of most chapters. Dr Metge discusses life in both a rural village in Northland (called here Kotare) and urban Auckland, dealing in particular with domestic organization, kinship, leadership and community solidarity. Her aim is to describe and explain the process of urbanisation—probably one of the most significant features of Maori life in the post-war years. The author tells us that when she began to work on this project she made the usual assumption that Maori urban society was something rather different from Maori rural society. More than this she expected to find a clear division between the two. What she did find was that the urban Maori does not cut himself adrift from rural Maori life by moving to the town, but keeps in close contact through visits back (particularly for tangi) and through country relations who often visit him in the town. This means, of course, that Maori rural society is changing also. Along with the urban it is undergoing what anthropologists call ‘acculturation’, that is, a change in ways of life brought about by adapting to the forces of the larger society of which it is a part. This book is essential reading for everyone—Maori and Pakeha—who is not only interested in the present day situation, but is prepared to make an effort to understand the processes involved. It is not light reading, but fortunately the language of the social anthropologist is not too technical and Dr Metge takes considerable pains to make sure that the terms she uses are adequately explained.

Land Tenure in the Cook Islands by R. G. Crocombe Oxford University Press, 38s reviewed by John Booth When people used to one type of land-holding try to codify the rules for another and completely different system, they almost invariably alter and distort it to such an extent that it ceases to function effectively. This is what has happened in the Cook Islands; it is admirably described in a new book by Ron Crocombe called ‘Land Tenure in the Cook Islands’. This book is of particular interest to New Zealand Maoris because their traditional system of land tenure was so similar to that of the Cook Islands. Much of what the author says could be matched with New Zealand cases. For instance, on pages 141–2 he lists ways in which flexibility was built into the old system but has been excluded by statute and Land Court decision from the new. The New Zealand position would be very similar. As in New Zealand, it is apparently true that in the Cooks some good Maori land is not productive, and this is due in large part to the suppression of the traditional rules of land-use. The land has become tangled up in a complicated web of red tape. Mr Crocombe quotes two cases as an illustration of his argument. On the island of Mauke the Land Court had dealt with all the planting land before 1906 whereas in Mangaia

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