Clash of Cultures

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 88, 5 July 1927, Page 10

Clash of Cultures

No Tapu Laws at Arts and Crafts School Mr. Coates Has Definite Views

IT is the opinion of the Prime Minister, Right Hon. J. G. Coates, that Rotorua is naturally the best location for a School of Maori Arts and Crafts. The Maori carver of to-day, Mr. Coates points out, wili indulge in a cigarette, a proceeding once regarded as punishable by the gods with death. Therefore, he does not consider that the old tapu laws will operate against the proposed school. , . In response to THE SUN’S invitation, Mr. Coates, in his capacity as Minister of Native Aifairs, replies:—

I FIND that the Maori people, as a whole, and especially the more advanced scholars of the race, are in favour of the school being established in Rotorua, as the carvers are there, and the environment is congenial to the proposed school. One or two, however, of the Maoris of the old generation living in Rotorua, while agreeable to the school being

established there, dislike the idea of both carving and weaving being carried on under the same roof. ANCIENT MAORI CUSTOMS

“ln the days of the ancient Maori the custom was for such crafts to be undertaken in separate establishments. Carving was done by the men in one building, and weaving by the women in another. The incantations recited in the initiation, progress, and completion of the work in each case were separate and distinct, and neither section had access to the establishment occupied by the other.

“These ancient distinctions are not now observed in most of the Maori districts. This modern disregard of the ancient Maori customs and distinctions has been brought about by the clash of cultures, and can be readily understood by the fact that the timber required for carving is cut down nowadays with pakeha axes, sawn into suitable lengths and sizes with steel saws, hauled to the carving-

places in motor-lorries, etc., and carved with steel chisels. “All this is done without a word of incantation, as was the case in the days of the ancient Maori. “The carvers of the present day smoke their pipes and cigarettes while carving—a proceeding which could not have been indulged in in the days of the old-time Maori carvers for fear of the penalty of death resultant from such transgression of the laws of his Maori atua (gods). Despite this unseemly conduct, however, carving is still produced without apparently any dire calamity befalling the undisciplined modern carver, such as would have been the case, so we are told, in the days of old. “The same disregard of the customs pertaining to weaving is in evidence everywhere. Women cut the flax with pakeha knives used for cutting up cooked food: the flax is hauled on carts, etc., on which food has been carried: and the women smoke -while weaving. All this is done without a word of incantation. Despite, however, these departures from the ancient Maori custom and law regarding weaving, mats, etc., are still being produced without any untoward calamity overtaking the offenders. So long as the art of carving and weaving is perpetuated, and the goods are oeing produced, the Maori of to-day is not bothering his head as to whether incantations should be recited during the various stages of the progress of his work, or as to whether separate establishments should be insisted upon. ADVANTAGES OF ROTORUA “Rotorua is naturally the best location for a school of Maori arts and crafts. The carvers live there; it is the centre of a large Maori district extending eastwards toward Cape Runaway and southward to Ruatahuna and Tokaanu, where the Maoris still maintain a live interest in the arts and crafts of their ancestors. The public of New Zealand, as well as overseas visitors, would always associate Rotorua with the arts and crafts of the Maoris, and the tourist traffic to that district would provide a steady demand for small articles manufactured at the school. “The future possibilities of the schol are great, and I am sure the Board of Maori Arts, comprised as it is of earnest students of Maori arts, will see to it that the school serves the purposes for which it was established.”