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Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 287, 4 September 1928, Page 9

“I prefer to sleep on the floor myself, nnd I am a fair example of the civilised Maori,” said Sir Apirana Ngata in nn address the other night, discussing conditions within the average present-day Native dwelling, wherein, he asserted, mats upon the floor still in general took lhe place of raised beds (reports' the “Herald”). Sir Apirana explained the ancestors of the Maori had slept on the flqor or the ground for thousands of years, and the ancient habit died hard. Similarly, the lady of the house did not preside n't the head of the dinner-table and make conversation; she had her meal in the kitchen with the other women after the menfolk had finished. On the whole, young Maori women were more progressive than men; and the Native father suffered a Berios of shocks by demands from his family for this and that new thing—the latest was wireless.