During their visit to Wellington, essay winners Caroline Te Rauna and Henrietta Kaiwai visited Parliament Buildings. From left to right, Mr W. T. Ngata, private secretary to the Minister of Maori Affairs; Mr H. M. Jennings, principal of the Ngata Memorial College; Mr I. G. MacFarlane, New Zealand Travel and Holidays Association; Caroline Te Rauna; the Hon. J. R. Hanan, Minister of Maori Affairs, and Henrietta Kaiwai. These two essays were the winning entries in a competition held recently at Ngata Memorial College, Ruatoria, for essays on a local historical or legendary theme. The contest was sponsored by the New Zealand Travel and Holidays Association, the prize being a three day visit to Wellington. The Meeting-house Porourangi by Henrietta Kaiwai Porourangi is the name given to the historic meeting-house of the Ngati Porou people which stands majestically at the foot of Puputa Hill. To reach Porourangi you have to travel seven miles north-east of Ruatoria over roads of good quality. The timber for this meeting-house was fetched from the Mangaoporo Valley and had to be brought down the Waiapu River. When the logs reached a place where they could be brought ashore easily, the many helpers would sledge them up to the meeting-house site. It took twelve years, from 1852 to 1864, to build the house. When it was completed it was truly a work of art. Each part of it is designed not only to display Maori skills, arts and crafts, but also to represent ancestral figures, elders and warriors who performed great deeds for their people. All these ancestors lived within the Ngati Porou tribal area. The carvings were done by Tamati Ngakaho, an elder who lived at Whakawhitira. The tukutuku patterns are very unusual. Along each wall traditional Maori patterns, such as poutama, roimata, patikitiki and purapurawhetu, alternate with images of different ancestors and warriors, each one with his name included in the tukutuku work. Two figures on the poutokomanawa, the posts in the middle of the meeting-house, represent Hamo and Rongomaianiwaniwa, the