20 JANUARY
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE
111

ILLUSTRATIONS OF NEW ZEALAND FOSSILS
DSIR Information Series No. 150
109 p. 1981
$5.50 plus 85c p & p
The book is a guide to the identification of the fossils of the major time intervals currently recognised in the marine sedimentary rocks of New Zealand. Most of the fossils illustrated are marine macrofossils, that is, those that can be seen by the human eye.

INFORMATION IN FORMATION
A Guide to Report Writing
STATE SERVICES COMMISSION
31 p. 1978.
$1.45 plus 40c p & p
Contains helpful suggestions for preparing, planning, organising, structuring, writing, and revising reports, ideas on visual aids and descriptions of a few of the many types of reports.

LIVING LETTERS
STATE SERVICES COMMISSION
36 p. 1980 reprint.
$1.75 plus 55c p & p
One of the aims in letter writing is to get ideas across to the reader clearly and briefly. But do letters always say what is meant? Even if they are clear to the writer, will the reader understand them easily? If you are still using the old cliches of “acknowledging receipt of”, “according to our records”, and “enclosed please find” it is almost certainly time to change your attitude to writing Living Letters.

MAORI
By Witi Ihimaera
45 p. 1975.
$1.20 plus 40c p & p
A colourful booklet describing the coming of the Maori to New Zealand, his history, heritage, folklore, beliefs, and cultural unity. Each chapter has a quotation from a Maori proverb, phrase, saying, or canoe chant and these concepts are presented in words and pictures. Continues with the arrival of the pakeha and the pattern of events which followed, the Treaty of Waitangi and the Land Wars. Moves on to the Maori today, finishing with the theme, one country, two heritages in unity. Well illustrated with 64 coloured photos, of interest to all New Zealanders and tourists. (Tourist and Publicity Department.)

MAORI AGRICULTURE
Dominion Museum Bulletin No. 9
By Elsdon Best
315 p. 1976.
$13.50 plus $1.50 p & p
The only comprehensive study of Maori agriculture available, this bulletin adds a further volume to the series of Elsdon Best’s works which the Government Printer undertook to reprint preserving the original text and bulletin numbers. I recommend this book and the series as a whole; to collectors archaeologists, and to those studying the prehistoric economy of the Maori people. (Government Printer.)

THE MAORI AS HE WAS
By Elsdon Best
295 p. 1974 reprint.
$6.50 plus 85c p & p
Fifty years of public demand since this book was first published resulted in the need for reprints in 1934 and 1952. The text has been reproduced unchanged but the originals of some of the figures could not be traced and these have been replaced with similar illustrations. There have been many advances in our knowledge of Maori life since this book first appeared. The work of numerous ethnologists, and more recently archaeologists, has critically examined many of the earlier concepts, confirming some, disproving others, and altering others to varying degrees. No one has yet produced a synthesis of the results of all this scholarship and there is still nothing as comprehensive as this book of Best’s to give a general account of the Maori. This book was first published when Best was 68 and thus represents the accumulated knowledge of a lifetime. It has now become a classic introduction to Maori life. Its continued availability should help the reader to obtain a basic background to old time Maori life which can be extended by further reading.

THE MAORI CANOE
Dominion Museum Bulletin No. 7
By Elsdon Best
451 p. 1976.
$17.50 plus $1.50 p & p
A reprinted edition without textural alterations and retaining the old Dominion Museum number. Another example of Elsdon Best’s dedicated effort to preserve Maori culture. The material presented on canoes, their materials, types, methods of construction, and associated artifacts make interesting reading for the layman as well as for scholars of the Maori. (Government Printer.)

MAORI RELIGION AND MYTHOLOGY PART 1
Dominion Museum Bulletin No. 10
By Elsdon Best
424 p. 1976.
$18 plus $1.50 p & p
An account of the theory of the universe and its creation, study of the origin of man, religious beliefs, rites, magic and folklore of the Maori people of New Zealand. First published in 1924, reprinted without textural alterations and retaining the original bulletin numbers. (Government Printer.)

MAORI STOREHOUSES AND KINDRED STRUCTURES
By Elsdon Best
116 p., illustrated. 1974 reprint.
$6.50 plus 85c p & p
As an authority on Maori culture, the author has compiled in this publication a comprehensive record on the use of the different storage structures, etc., used by the Maori in former times. By studying items pertaining to Maori technology it is hoped this will throw light upon many phases of the social life and customs hitherto unknown. This bulletin is No. 5 in the Dominion Museum Series.

MOA-HUNTER PERIOD OF MAORI CULTURE
Roger Duff—Canterbury Museum Bulletin No. 1
436 p. 3rd edition, 1977.
$17.50 plus $1.50 p & p
This book deals with the most important site yet investigated and in its discussions it traverses most of the New Zealand archaeological field. A chance discovery in 1939 by a 13-year-old boy revealed the grave of a chief in the gravels of the Wairau boulder bank. The gravel, goods, and bones of the ancient chief, prone in his gravel grave, with skull directed towards the setting sun, spoke with more authority regarding his race than the distorted memories of Maori tradition. Although scholarly and technical, the book sustains throughout the drama of this archaeological discovery, and recreates from the evidence of bone and stone the life of our first Polynesians in the Moa-hunter period of Maori culture.

DOMINION MUSEUM BULLETINS
By Elsdon Best
Government Printer, reprinted

MUSIC: Suggestions for Teaching Music in Primary Schools
Department of Education
260 p. 1980 (reprint).
$8.95 plus 85c p & p
The handbook is addressed particularly to the primary class teacher but will also assist the music specialist. The course is planned as an ‘on-going’ course, leading by easy steps from the infant department to Form II. The ultimate aim is to make music an integral part of the child’s life, to establish an interest that will continue beyond Form II and to carry over musical interests into adult life.