MAORI ART

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LII, Issue 17130, 4 September 1926, Page 5

MAORI ART

DECORATING BUILDINGS LONG DEFERRED BILL MINISTER ENTHUSIASTIC (Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. When the Maori Arts and Crafts Bill was under consideration before midnight j last night, on the motion to go into committee, the Leader of the Opposition, I Mr H E. Holland, expressed deep re- j gret that this Bill should have been , introduced so late in an overcrowded session. It cave no opportunity to I members to discuss it, He thought that had there been sufficient time members could have contributed to a debate which'would have been well worthy of preservation in Hansard'. Valuable facts could have been recorded, to which future generations would have been glad to refer. He was sure this j legislation, when given effect to. would | be successful, and New Zealanders of the future would look back with pride and satisfaction on the work done. Mr. Coates said the Government architect was most anxious that the interiors of some public buildings should j be used for the display of Maori art. This officer had schemes in mind at I the present time, and was endeavoring to design certain rooms and corridors so ' that they might be adapted to certain j forms of'Maori architecture. The board, j when sot up, would have power not onlv , to appoint teachers to perpetuate Maori arts, but also, to handle materials of native character in a way that would \ prove valuable. This effort to move forward would be very valuable so far as Maori art was concerned. The Leader of the Opposition should under i stand that it was not the speaker's fault that the Bill had been introduced ;i,t this late hour of tho session. Maori ; members, prominent representatives o! j the native race, and Mr. H. R. IT. Bal- j neavis, private secretary to the Minis- j ter of Native Affairs," had all given j invaluable assistance in drafting the i Bill. Gentlemen of the Arawa tribe and other Maoris had also given great assistance. Unanimity had been difficult to obtain, and the Bill had been ready for the printer only about a week or ten days before it was introduced. No discourtesy to the House was intended bv its* late introduction. All j interested hid been working on it for . twelve months. j