boy ran off excited to his father, shouting as he went, ‘Father! Look, here is my new slave!’ The father was very pleased at his son's new acquisition, and said, ‘Take him away to live in the scrub.’ One day soon after this, the boys in the village went to play in their usual way: some to catch birds, some to sail their toy canoes, and some to the various other games that children play at. But instead of accompanying them, Tautini went into the forest, later coming back with two birds similar to those for which he was longing before he was born. One was a huia, the other a white heron. He taught these birds, saying to the huia, ‘This is the cry which you must utter: “The fire does not burn—dark, dark, darkness prevails”.’ And to the white heron, he said, ‘This is the cry you must utter: “The fire is smouldering—it is dark, dark all around us”.’ And thus he taught these two birds what they had to say, living with them there in the scrub. One night he went to the great house where the chief and the principal men of the tribe slept, and found them all fast asleep and snoring. He went back of the scrub, then took his two birds to the great house. He carefully opened the sliding door, entered without any noise, and put down his birds, placing their supplejack cages amongst the ashes of the fireplace. Suddenly the huia cried out, ‘The fire does not burn—dark, dark, darkness prevails!’ And the white heron cried, ‘The fire is smouldering—it is dark, dark all around us!’ Hearing the shrill cry and human words uttered by the birds, the sleepers all awoke. Sitting up, they gazed at the birds with wonder, expressing their feelings of admiration and astonishment. Then the father of Tautini rose up, and for some time he stood silently looking at the birds. At last he exclaimed, ‘Truly, this boy is my son, for those birds are of the very kind for which his mother longed.’ He wept over his son, rejoicing, and at dawn of day he took him to a stream and chanted the incantations and performed the usual and proper ceremonies fitting for a chief's son. This story is retold from a translation of a Maori text published by William Colenso in ‘The Transactions of the New Zealand Institute’, vol. XIV. ‘Maori Language Should be Taught at Primary School’ At a meeting at Kaitaia last December the associate professor of anthropology at Auckland University, Dr Bruce Biggs, strongly advocated the teaching of Maori in primary schools. He said also that Maori children should be taught the language in the home, and should not hear slighting references to it. He said, ‘In one district recently, I wanted some children to record some Maori on tape. They were quite shy and then said, “He wants some lingo”. I am sure that they did not learn that word from the Pakeha, and if you want your children to learn and respect Maori, it is over to you.’ Learning a language, he said, is one of the hardest things to do. ‘It takes several thousand hours and you won't learn it by going to an adult education class for about 60 hours. It must be taught at primary school. ‘The present system operates against Maori surviving and it is difficult to see how Maori ceremonial life, which Pakehas do not have and do not know anything about, can exist unless the language survives.’

BEYOND SCHOOL by Michael Hansen and Derek Wood 17s This book, written as a guide for young people leaving school, will be of particular interest to Maori parents and children, Maori Women's Welfare Leagues, and Social Workers in the Maori field. It deals with the economic social and political problems affecting the school leaver in a practical, down-to-earth manner. Some controversial subjects such as citizenship, race relations and the function of the Government have been deliberately included in the hope that they will provoke thoughtful discussion. … of all good booksellers … OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS WELLINGTON