THE WHARE MAORI

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 103, 4 May 1933, Page 9

THE WHARE MAORI

AND THE PAKEHA SHACK

LAKELAND ARCHITECTURE

[(By "Traveler.") Sip Apirana Ngata's appeals for preserving Native arts and culture could be i given, a very practical application if " the Maoris could' be induced to apply '/ it in their architecture. The charm of 1 a Maori thatch, whare, even of a Maori '-. xnanuka fence, is irresistible. It af■ ■fcets people consciously or unconsciously, and even the most superficial Mnd of tourist is seen, in the Northern Lakela.nd, to stop before such a Maori dwelling,' standing > out in contrast to the, dilapidated shacks, built after t'ho European style, which, most Maoris seem to prefer. There is something in- ■ Vlecribably squalid about a neglected Maori shack-home. * But with the raupo whare and the Maori picket fence Native life> harmonises, as eveia the dullest observer feels. further,.the- Maori architecture harmonises with the Lakeland landscape as no board and iron structure, Native orever can. Writes "Tohunga" in the, "New Zealand Kailways Maga« ■ zino": "The real: Maori hoijse—all too . -seldoni seen in these days—was evolved "by centuries of life in, this country. It adds to, riot detracts from, the att ra'e tion ' of' the landscape. The cheap 'find horrible pakeha shack is seen in too many native kaingas; evil (pakeha) comuhications corrupt good manners. But there is a distinct revival of the carving art and the ancient form, and colour scheme. Nearly every village of importance now has one or more carved 'houses built in the old-fashioned-style." 'Unfortunately, in many districts (especially the tourist districts) "the trail■of the corrugated iron roof is, ovey it •all," When corrugated iron displaced the early pakeha shingles, it was no aesthetic improvement. JFhen it replaces Maori architecture, it is a calamity. - ■ ' To quote again from "Tohunga": ■''How beautiful a well-built whare of ,raupo thatch or nikau fronds fits in .(with the landscape! Whether decorated of front or not, it is the kind of architecture that blends eye-pleasingly with • its surroundings. The weathered thatch, the red-painted barge-boards, the very shape and roof-pitch of it, make it a complement of the natural scene, whe-, *her 'hill or bushy valley or bank of ]ako or stream." Place such a whare on one of the slopes overlooking a trout /stream, and,the unity of the landscape is not disturbed. It is gone for ever when the obtrusive shack is placed in such (i position. At Tokaanu, as a rule, neither Natives nor whites have set a good architectural example. Nothing changes much in Tokaamj. But a few miles away at Turangi, the new township on the main Rotorua-Taupo-National Park road, much construction work is being done and much is pending. It is a time of beginnings, and a time when the charr acteristies of man-made improvements may bo-so moulded as to give the word its right meaning. On reasonably priced Government sections many well-to-do white people are eslablishing fishing baches, cottages, bungalows, etc., for occasional residence, and perhaps (later) permanent residonee;, Is it too much to hope that these- improvements.will borrow something irom the true, Maori architecturet Evon aTMaqri.fence might.be, in'such isuri;oundiiigs, a great artistic advance on the usual European article. If .Turnngi is built riot, after the fashion. of the shacks on city sea; beaches, but in a manner consistent with all that is connoted in. the- Jiaino Tongariro, the great fishing stream (and oven greater natural attractions) will have an, added •laim on the world-'a-admuation, _^.. .