casualty of change and not fashionable in post-war Far Eastern socio-anthropological studies, it is important to make collections and record ways of life that have become rare and almost extinct. This Journal plays a part in preserving a record of the local past, but greater efforts are required in the field. The passing of these material objects, and of the special skills and vocabulary associated with them, impoverishes the human scene, and its spirit. It also reduces what we hand onto succeeding generations unless it is recorded. We who are generally privileged to live in periods of change have a responsibility to note and record what we have destroyed. With that thought, I leave those with the capacity to work in this field and those, whether institutions or private parties, who have the financial means to support them. Much is being done; I suspect more than one person can possibly know. For this we should be thankful: but even more effort is required.
March 1979.
HON. EDITOR