Green Peas at Christmas Time Only

When Mrs. H. V. Fairlie, of Tokomaru Bay, with her sister, spent a week with us, she was very struck by seeing green peas on the table every day. She remarked, "You know, we have green peas only at Christmas time." Mrs. Fairlie was educated at Hukarere and was a very refined lady and pillar of the Church. She died recently at the age of eighty-three years.

A well-spoken Maori briefly summed up our life at East Cape in the following words: "You know, those two page 125live in their gardens." Wasn't it the great Lord Francis Bacon who described gardening as the purest pleasure? Nearly every white resident at Te Araroa has a garden in which he spends all the spare time he has, but few Maoris have gardens. If people only worked more in home gardens they would have less time for the "pub" and they would be much happier.