success in Germany rested largely on his ability to indoctrinate Germany with racial pride. In Africa Dr. Verwoerd further cements his political grip by guaranteeing more stringent repression of the black majority.

Fear Often a Cause Animal fear may compel one race to discriminate against another one, especially if the former is the minority; they are afraid of being overwhelmed, and therefore all possible access to power is denied the subjected race. South Africa is of course the classic example. Prejudice may stem from fear of pressure from a social or economic group. Until the last few years, it was virtually impossible for a Maori to acquire a position in a banking firm. Banks distrusted his integrity and efficiency, and it was felt that by his very presence, a coloured person may have lowered the bank's all-important prestige with its customers. Many Europeans refuse to let their dwellings to coloured people, especially in high-class residential areas, through fear of a drop in the value of the property.

Subconscious Feelings A people may be prejudiced towards another in order to disguise a sub-conscious feeling of jealousy and envy; they see the other race being maybe too happy, care-free, spontaneous, uninhibited, or even as a group superior in such activities as music or athletics. So they prefer to ignore these strengths which they themselves lack, and to emphasize the weaknesses which the other groups may possess. Another factor is that most people seem to need to feel superior to someone else. This seems to be human nature; and unfortunately this urge is often magnifiesd to a racial level, so that some races are generally believed to be superior, and others inferior. Some interracial attitudes have been moulded in very recent times, but many are of ancient origin.

Ignorance a Formidable Obstacle Insofar as human nature is responsible for this mental distortion, we cannot cure it. We can take certain steps to prevent it, we can guide, and teach a rational approach; but we cannot suppress or stamp out a person's way of thinking. The ultimate decision lies within each person. Probably the greatest contributing factor in the nurturing of prejudice is ignorance, which grows fundamentally from lack of personal contact between the prejudiced and the prejudged. People who cannot be bothered going out of their way to find out more about other races tend to arrive at set conclusions from the largely inaccurate opinions of others. These opinions are applied to the pre-judged race as a whole, and they may become exaggerated as they pass from one person to another. Members of that race who have proved themselves contrary to the stereotype are either irrationally ignored, or are regarded as very rare exceptions who can be divorced from the inflexible general impressions gained of that race. Ignorance is one of the most formidable obstacles to closer human understanding. Our immediate problem concerns the need for improving the theoretically harmonious, but in fact indifferent relations between our country's two main races, Maori and Pakeha.

Teachers Could Do More This problem can best be tackled in childhood, and I cannot stress enough the vital role of the teacher who, from my experience as one, can play a very large part in promoting better relations. Next to parents, teachers can wield the greatest influence over a child. In six hours a day children can soon come to reflect something of the way of thinking of the teacher. Many teachers conscientiously strive to teach their children to regard others as equals. But it seems to me that the majority of teachers either do nothing in this direction, or else not as much as they could. Why is this? Firstly, many teachers themselves are prejudiced, and are not going to teach something which they do not believe in; secondly, some teachers still entertain the romantic notion that ‘there is no colour bar in New Zealand’; thirdly, many teachers remain unaware of the potential dangers of bad race relationships. They think that all this does not affect them, or else they just couldn't care a damn if the problem existed or not—and thus the teaching of racial tolerance tends either to be ignored, or to receive only very isolated attention.

Compulsory Study Needed If the seeds of racial harmony are to be sown in the school, it is obvious that first we must have wise nursery-men, for teachers cannot teach racial harmony if they do not understand and practise it themselves. This brings us to the education of the teachers. In my opinion the study of race relations should be one of the compulsory and essential subjects to be taught in the Teachers'