Work on carving goes ahead

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32776, 29 November 1971, Page 2

Work on carving goes ahead

(N.Z.P.A. Staff Correspondent)

LONDON, Nov. 28.

Work is scheduled to begin tomorrow on the delicate task of drilling a lin hole through the entire 50ft length of the controversial carving by the late Inia Te Wiata which is to be erected next year in New Zealand House, London.

The work, which must be done whatever decision is reached in Wellington about the part of the totem pole that was unfinished at the artist’s death, will probably take about five weeks to complete. Mr Te Wiata’s work consists of five carved pieces of totara, each about 10ft long, wjiich. eventually will stand on top of one another, plus two “wings” shaped as Maori canoe prows which will extend from the middle of the fifth and top part of the main totem.

The controversy over the carving concerns one of the prows, which is not finished. While both prows have been sent to New Zealand for a decision on their future, officials at New Zealand House are pushing on with preparation for the erection of the main column.

The chosen method of supporting the sculpture, weighing more than five tons, is to anchor a strong and vertical steel wire support between the floor and the thirdfloor roof, with the wire passing through the middle of the carving. The hole through the carving to take the wire has to ,be drilled extremely carefully Ito avoid splitting the wood,

and each section of the carving has to be placed in a special casing for the journey from New Zealand House to the factory of R. Cattle, Ltd, in Oxfordshire, where the whole casing will then be placed in a rotary device. While drills at either end of the casing remain stationary, the carving will be very slowly rotated, and it is expected that it will take the

best part of a week of slow turning and drilling before the two drills meet in the middle. “We’ll be treating the first section very carefully,” a spokesman of the firm said on Friday. “We will then decide how to tackle the other four sections.” The carving will stand in the foyer of New Zealand House in a well specially de-

signed to take such a work. The base will be just inside the main doors on the ground floor, and the top will be level with the balcony of the third floor where the High Commissioner’s office is situated.

Besides holding the carving steady, the central wire is designed to take about two tons of the weight of the massive work.