TOMORROW'S LEADERS by H. D. B. DANSEY If impressions of an event so unique as the recent young Maori leaders' conference are to be of value, it is essential for an observer such as myself—one who was on the inside looking in—to be quite clear about two essential points. In the first place he must be sure that he recognises clearly those aspects which impress him personally and emotionally and in the second place he must see that he makes as honest and objective an evaluation as he can of those matters which are of wider moment and importance.

PERSONAL IMPRESSION There was the delight of meeting old friends, with some of whom I had lost contact altogether. There was the pleasure of hearing once again the voices of older men whose lead I had followed in other years and other situations, men like Bishop Panapa, Lieutenant-Colonels A. Awatere and J. C. Henare, Messrs M. R. and P. Te H. Jones, Mr T. T. Ropiha and Mr S. R. Morrison. There was the opportunity of paying my respects to those leaders and teachers such as Mr A. T. Carroll, Dr Belshaw, Dr Winiata and Dr Biggs all of whom I knew more by repute than by personal acquaintance. Then, still speaking personally, there was my own deep satisfaction at being associated even for so short a period and on so transient a pretext with the University of Auckland. Such academic studies as I had contemplated as a youth had been scattered like dead leaves in the wind with the outbreak of war, scattered and never again gathered together. So I liked to think as I came into the echoing entrance hall each morning of the conference that I was part, even in a humble way, of that great institution of learning.

THE YOUNG AND THE OLD From the first I tried hard to pick how the two groups—the younger and the older—differed, why it was that I felt more at home with the older men, although I was one of the youngest at the 1939 Round Table. Now I know. We looked at each other across the years of war. We had grown up in the shadow the war had cast before it and had matured before our time as it rolled over us; they had grown up in the years which followed. What are they like then, these young people, these young leaders? Honestly I think I can answer: Better than we were, yes, better than we were. They are more confident than we were, more assured than we were, more knowledgeable than we were, better adjusted to the strains of this day and age than many of us were to ours. They have the fire of youth, the burning enthusiasm which sees things that are wrong and which demands instant change; they tend to see in compromise a deviation from principle and not a bridge towards it. They are angry without being bitter, merry without being frivolous, eloquent without being verbose, passionate without being cynical, forth-right without being discourteous. If they differ with their elders they do so with respect, if they feel they are not well enough informed on a subject they will seek the best advice available, if they are certain that the course they have decided upon is right they will not be diverted from it. Above all they are proud of their race, its achievements, its traditions, its culture; jealous of its good name; earnest, sincere and determined in their desire to help their fellows towards fuller, better and happier living. Let me now compare the deliberations of the younger group with those of the older. Round Tables A and B approached their tasks in a different manner from that adopted by the 1939 Round Table. In one way at least, that of definition, it was often a more effective approach. One has but to read the reports of the junior round tables to see that problems by and large were better defined, laid upon the operating table, so to speak, in a manner well fitted to receive the surgeon's attention. When it came to making a firm decision as to where to cut, what to remove, what instruments to use and how to assist the patient back to health again—ah, then it was clear that a vital necessity was not always on hand, and that necessity was experience. This is not a matter for concern, for experience grows fast in ground into which learning has been ploughed and which is cultivated with enthusiasm's incomparable hoe.