bounty of the sea of Tangaroa? And who would want to claim descent from one of the inkblots on page 168? Clear-cut, well-defined explanations for natural phenomena demand clear-cut, well-defined illustrations. Is the distorted spiral on page 69 to represent the ‘threshold of life and death’? One presumes so, from the text. Yet there are many ‘vagina dentatus’ in carvings easily accessible for Mr Hanly to copy. The vital part of Hine-nui-te-po had symmetry and power to the Maori mind. This illustration has neither. The use of an art form symptomatic of the unsure, uncertain modern world to illustrate the fully explained orderliness of the Maori mytholigical world is a mistake. Mr Alpers has worked valiantly to give these myths the immortality they deserve, but, like Maui, he has chosen the wrong travelling companion. Mr Hanly is your tiwaiwaka, Mr Alpers.

Washday at the Pa by Ans Westra Caxton Press, 10s 6d reviewed by P. J. Ruha From cover to cover the reader is constantly aware of the fine photography of Ans Westra. She has artistically portrayed her subjects. However, one wonders if the author really understands the background of Maori life, necessary for sympathetic and understanding treatment of such subjects. The author has not taken into account the fact that many Maoris still cling to some of the old customs. For example, a child is shown standing on the stove—this is almost a violation of the law of tapu. Presumably this revised version is now intended more for adults' reading than for children's education. If this is so, then the partly revised text in this edition is not really suitable for adult readers. In the publisher's note accompanying this new edition, it is said that in the controversy caused by its original publication, ‘several factors caused the discussion to be confused’. One of these factors, the note says, is that some readers experienced ‘a difficulty in separating artistic truth (photography employed as art) from objective fact’. ‘Washday at the Pa’ was published in the first place as a primary school bulletin for standards two to five. Children of this age-group do not usually note the artistic value of photography. They accept what they see and read as the truth. The publisher's note explains that the word ‘pa’ is loosely applied nowadays. However the title ‘Washday at the Pa’ still seems to be a misnomer, for only one house appears in the text and photographs. From an artistic point of view one cannot fault Ans Westra's fine photography, but the accompanying text needs reconsideration in many of its aspects. Miss Westra must decide for whom her book is intended: for adults, or for children.

this april 28 members of the Rotorua Maori Golfers' Association are to tour eastern Australia. mr d. n. perry of opotiki, an adviser to the New Zealand Maori Council, recently became moderator of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand. At the induction ceremony Mr John Waititi, representing the Maori people, paid tribute to Mr Perry's many years of work for the Maori people by placing upon his shoulders a korowai cloak. This was in the place of the usual academic robe. The cloak was lent for the occasion by the Governor-General, Sir Bernard Fergusson. the uptown gallery in auckland recently held successful one-man exhibitions of the work of the Maori artists Para Matchitt and Selwyn Muru, and also of a Cook Islands artist, Paul Tangata, and a Samoan painter, Mrs Teuane Tibbo. Paul Tangata, an honours student at Elam School of Art, paints freely-interpreted tree and flower forms which reflect his memories of the tropical landscape of his home. Mrs Teuane Tibbo, who is aged 70, began painting only last year. Her paintings of the remembered landscapes of her youth have an innocence and directness of vision and a strong natural sense of design. Articles on the work of Selwyn Muru and Para Matchitt appeared in recent issues of Te Ao Hou; two of the illustrations in this issue (pages 13 and 15) are by Para Matchitt, whose strongly individual work re-interprets the classical Maori forms.