Te Ara Hou - The New Society is the second volume in the history of Maori in Nelson and Marlborough. This history details Maori participation in the European settlement society, from commitment to Christianity to enthusiasm for commerce and relationships with Europeans. It shows how Maori fared under European institutions, struggled to survive and how Maori culture and language were swamped by assimilation and Anglicisation.

"Volume One, Te Tangata me te Whenua - the people and the land, encompasses myths and legends of the region, the succession of tribes who have inhabited Te Tau Ihu o te Waka and their interactions, early encounters with Europeans, the arrival of the New Zealand Company, the Treaty of Waitangi, land transactions, and the administration of Maori Resserves." - p. 16.

Includes bibliographical references and index. Text in English with some Maori. Contains Maori baptisms, marriages, censuses, signatories, owners of occupation, tenths and landless native reserves etc. Invaluable for those with whakapapa connections to Te Tau Ihu (Nelson-Marlborough). Some baptism and census records of Ngai Tahu people.

One of a 16-volume series in landscape format, each volume giving the history and development of a different region from the 1860s to the 1950s. For a wide readership, a short introduction covers the region's earliest Pakeha history, and is followed by 70 pages of black (or sepia) and white photographs from family albums. Informative and slight tongue-in-cheek captions take into account post-1970s thinking about women, Maori, and the environment.