even worse about it then because it had been played so much on the air. So I began to sing a song I did like. I sang this song through once, and I had no intention of singing another. ‘That's enough now,’ I said. ‘I have to have a wash and get ready for tea.’ ‘Aw come on Paul,’ they pleaded. ‘Just once more. Pleeeease!’ ‘No, No more,’ I said, ‘I'm too tired.’ And I headed off down the path, with the children fussing about me. The girl was in front, skipping just ahead of me. After a while she looked up and said, ‘Paul, you're not a Maori are you?’ Her eyes full of concern and questioning. ‘I am,’ I said. ‘Oh,’ she said. ‘Mummy said you weren't.’ ‘Yes, I'm a Maori,’ I said. ‘Oh,’ the girl said again. The children looked at one another, a little confused, their brows furrowing. Then they dropped their heads and walked along in front of me, their eyes on the concrete footpath. But they were soon talking and laughing and skipping about. It meant nothing to them as children, really. I knew after that, that their parents had been discussing me. And although nothing was said directly to me I felt that what Tom Bayley, the other boarder, had told me earlier on must be true. So that I suppose is the reason I am on the top floor and not the ground, which has better facilities and is where the landlord and his wife and children sleep. But I'm not saying that it is the reason. Nor am I saying that it is the only reason. I have since found out, however, that some while back a group of Maoris had stayed at the house, and they were a particularly rough bunch. One weekend while they were having a party in one of the rooms a fight broke out, and the room was nearly wrecked. The police were called in and the boys were arrested, but not before they had given the landlord a hiding, blackening both his eyes I believe, and called the landlady some adverse names. This could be the reason then why they are biased against Maoris. And I think too that it is the reason why most boarding-houses and employers who are this way, are biased against Maoris—because somewhere back in the past, one or two Maoris have left a bad impression with them. You

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