National Maori Students' Conference by Ani Bosch I tū te hui-ā-tau a ngā tamariki Māori o ngā whare wānanga, kāreti rānei, ki te pari o Waikato mai i te iwa ki te tekau mā tahi o Mei. Ko ngā mea i meinga mai hei tiaki i a mātou, ko Hōne Mohi rāua ko Rihi Mātene. I wehe atu au i Pōneke nei i te ahiahi o te Paraire 9 i te hāpāhi o te whā, ā, ka haere te tereina rā, pakū, pakū pīhoi-hoi haere, ā, tae atu ki waho o Hāmutana i te hāpāhi i te whā i te ata tū. Tae mai a rātou ki te tūtaki i a au, na ka haere atu mātou ki te wāhi moe i mua atu i te tātinga o te hui i te iwa o ngā hāora. Ngā tāngata i reira i haere mai i ngā Kāreti Kura Māhita o Ākarana (North Shore) Ardmore, Pāmutana, ko hau hoki (Pōneke), me ngā Whare Wānanga o Ākarana, Pōneke (Wikitōria) me Herewini Ngata o Otākou, na, me te tangata whenua hoki, rātou ko tō rātou kaumātua, a Moana Raureti. Ētahi o ngā kaikōrero, me ngā manuhiri ko Phil Amos, Vernon Penfold, Hugh Kāwharu, Pare Hopa mā o Ākarana, ko Katarina Mataira, Mata Christensen, me ētahi atu. I te huakinanga o te hui, ka mihi mai a Hōne Mohi, ka a ia ‘Te take nui o tēnei hui, hei huihuinga, arā, hei kōrerorero, hei tūtatakinga mō mātou ngā taitamariki Māori o te motu nei. Ētahi o ngā mea hei tironga mā mātou ko ngā raruraru mātauranga e pā ana ki a tātou te iwi Māori, ki ā tātou tamariki, na tae noa atu ki ā rātou tamariki, ia tau, ia tau.’ Ko te Mema Rēipa mō Manurewa, ko Mr P. Amos, te kaikōrero tuatahi i te rā nei. Ka kōrero ia mō ngā wā o mua, mai i te okinga o ngā kura, ngā whakaaro mō ngā tamariki Māori. Nā ngā Kura Hāhi anake ngā tamariki i puta hei kaiārahi mō tātou; pērā i Te Aute, i a Tīpene, i a Hato Paora. mō ngā kōtiro, ko Kuini Wikitōria, Hōhepa, Hukarere me Turakina. Ka kōrero nōki a ia mā ērā kura i ngā wāhi e kore e The Annual National Maori Students' Conference was held at Hamilton Teachers' College on the Waikato Campus. Their college representatives, our host and hostess, were John Mohi and Elizabeth Marsden. I left Wellington on Friday 9th at 4.30 p.m. by train (express) and was rocked and bashed about until I arrived at Frankton Junction, a suburb of Hamilton at about 4.50 a.m. Two of their students were at the station to meet me and they took me to the flat where I was to sleep before conference started at 9 a.m. The people there (delegates) had come from the Teachers' Colleges of Auckland (North Shore), Ardmore, Palmerston North and Wellington; and the Universities of Auckland, Wellington (Victoria) and Herewini Ngata (Otago) along with the Waikato students with their elder Mr Moana Raureti. Some of the speakers and visitors were Phil Amos, Vernon Penfold, Hugh Kawharu, Polly Hopa and others of the Auckland area, Katarina Mataira from Hamilton, Miss Christensen and others from Wellington and the South Island. To open the conference John Mohi welcomed us saying, ‘The main reason or function of this conference will be mainly a social one, where we will all gather to meet and talk with other Maori students of this country. Some of the topics for discussion will be educational problems that affect us as a race, our children and their children in the future.’ The Labour Member for Manurewa, Mr Phil Amos, was the first speaker. He spoke first on the historical aspect of education, and focused on the first schools with special consideration for the Maori children. The Church Schools were the ones that produced the Maori leaders then; schools like Te Aute, St Stephen's, St Paul's, and, for the girls, Queen Victoria, St Joseph's, Huka-