As a pakeha, I have humbly supported Maori whenever possible. I even tried to join the Maori Women's Welfare League in about the 1960s or 1970s, but they avoided me! At the time, I was writing "The Interpreter; a biography of Richard "Dicky" Barrett", and was in the National Archives reading notes taken (in pencil) while Commissioner Spain was sitting, in 1842, adjudicating over land sales between William Wakefield and iwi all over New Zealand. I noted each day several Maori, surrounded by high piles of volumes, patiently researching

while preparing to challenge the status quo in pakeha courts. I admired their diligence and perseverance. I was irate at the way Maori land had been whittled away from them; I understand how this has affected their mana increasingly to the present day; but now I admire their moves to impress their language into everyday life.

These days, I try to finish each letter with a Maori phrase.

Kia haumaru te noho

Angela Caughey