LECTURES AT MUSEUM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20893, 8 June 1931, Page 11

LECTURES AT MUSEUM.

SUNDAY SERIES BEGUN. MAORI BUILDING METHODS. The series of Sunday afternoon lectures to be given this season at the Wat Memorial Museum was begun successfully yesterday, when Mr. V. F. Fisher, of the museum staff, spoke on Maori dwellings and storehouses. Many people could not obtain admittance and it seems apparent that the lectures arranged will provo an exceptionally popular feature, of the activities of the institution. In introducing his subject Mr. Fisher explained that tho purpose of the series was to stimulate public interest in the exhibits at the museum, and also of extending knowledge of the various collections. ° The lecturer described various types of Maori dwellings and said the Maoris were accustomed to decorate important buildings with great care. The motifs on the decorated rafters were often finely achieved in paints, certain colours being mixed with oils and fats. The exterior decorations had, notably, a tekoteko surmounting the gable and massive side panels, excellently carved. The floor of a completed wliaropuni was strewn with rushes and fern, covered by coarse mats. Superior and takapau sleeping mats were then placed in position. No fires for cooking purposes were allowed in the dwellings. Other dwellings, known as wharewhakairo, had carved interiors. The storehouses of the Maoris, pataka, were often ornately decorated, the carvings being confined to the exterior. It was important to remember that Maori methods of house and storehouse construction were evolved in ,New Zealand to meet climatic conditions totally different from those to which the race had been accustomed in Ilawaiki. Mr. Fisher described the specimens in the Auckland Museum and also explained important styles of carving and mateiials of construction and adornment.