A Healthy Revival

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 92, 9 July 1927, Page 8

A Healthy Revival

ART OF ANCIENT MAORI WILL PLAY A PART IN NEW MEMORIAL MUSEUM WORK OF R. O. GROSS rpHE revival of interest in the art ot the ancient Maori is one of the really healthy artistic movements today in New Zealand. Aucklanders will rejoice in the fact that our Maori art is not to be neglected in the new War Memorial Museum. Far too long has this phase of national art been overlooked. Too many of our treasures have gone abroad to find permanent homes where New Zealanders can but rarely see them. Mr. Richard O. Gross, the English sculptor, who came to New Zealand to grow apples, but found work of far greater importance awaiting him, is responsible for the incorporation of Maori design, in a modified form, in the new museum. He is working, of course, in earnest collaboration with the architects, Messrs. Grierson, Aimer and Draffin. IN A SUBDUED FORM That the Maori design should not interfere with the general scheme is emphasised by Mr. Gross, who. in several instances, has departed front the "orthodox” barbaric style and incorporated his work in a chaste Greek background. The result is distinctly pleasing. For instancer the taialia head has been utilised with picturesque effect in several of the rooms. Likewise, the notched design, which is evident in almost all Maori work. Mr. Gross recalls similarity between the Maori decoration and both early Greek and Celtic. This is not as strange as it may seem. The tools of all these people were limited. As soon as better implements for carving came to hand a much wider field was opened for the craftsman. With the Maori, however, this was not the case. He used the same tools until the arrival of the pakeha. Those who imagine that there are no definite laws governing Maori art, says Mr. Gross, are entirely wrong. Rules bound the Maori just as much as any other artist. The longer the design of the Maori is studied the more significant becomes this fact. Tradition has ascribed to Rauru, son of Toi (according to the late Augustus Hamilton's monumental work on Maori art), the invention of the present pattern or style of Maori carving. Rauru lived in the Bay of Plenty district about 26 generations ago.

To quote Mr. Hamilton: “No other branch of the Polynesian race uses

exactly the same designs, so this trait is. supported in claiming an endemic origin for the art of New Zealand.” The ancient Maori craftsman had a. true appreciation of the fitness of things. Never, for instance, did he ornament his weapons or implements in such a way as to interfere with their primary purpose and free use. In the general march from east to west in which all sections of the New Zealand Army will take part in a representative frieze at the museum, Mr. Gross has given the Maori Pioneer Battalian an important part. These admirably drawn incised figures will be one of the outstanding features of the new building, which commands a site in the Domain unrivalled in Auckland. The taiaha head design has been used ingeniously, too, on the windows in the imposing front of the edifice.

Though cast in iron they will be coloured to represent bronze. It is hardly necessary to recall the fact that Mr. Gross was responsible for the Auckland Grammar School memorial. the Cambridge war memorial, and the Felton memorial gates at Invercargill, in addition to other work completed since his arrival some years ago from South Africa.

At the moment he is engaged upon the different coats of arms of the British and Allied nations, by no means an easy 'matter to determine. These will also be placed in the War Memorial Museum adorning the gigantic war maps.

Mr. Gross is also working upon conventional scrolls for the new Masonic temple in Auckland. The olive, the lily, and bursting ears of corn will all play their part in these designs. —ERIC RAMSDEN.

THE NEAREST GETS IT There being no correct solution to a crossword puzzle in a Southern competition, the promoter awarded a “consolation” prize of 5s to the young lady who was nearest the mark —instead of the full prize of £lO. Ttte young lady refused to be thus consoled, and she sued for the balance of the first prize, £9 15s. The magistrate held that the defendants were bound to award the prize to the competitor who was nearest the correct solution, and he gave a verdict accordingly. Presumably the promoters of the competition will now have to pay over the second and third prizes of £2 and 10s also, to the two competitors who were “next nearest.” This may dampen the ardour of those who frame competitions which simply cannot be won outright, unless they are allowed to get over the difficulty by stipulating that no prize shall be awarded unless all puzzles are correctly solved. The “snide” promoter who charges an entrance fee would then be on a very safe swindle, to the disadvantage of those who promote genuine competitions and the despoiling of those who beguiled by his representations. It appears to be a matter that needs the careful scrutiny of the law. FASHIONS IN SCHOOLS If Dr. Mildred Staley is right, and the large concrete schools now being built are to be out-of-date within the course of a few years, there is a splendid waste of public money going on just now. Dr. Staley emphasises the importance of open-air schools. Is the profession, generally, with her? If so, was medical opinion sought in conjunction with architectural advice before the construction of these costly modern schools (which may not long remain modern) was undertaken? Many hundreds of thousands of pounds may be due for destruction if the schools of to-day are to be condemned by the experts of the next decade. But the question arises whether Dr. Staley is forecasting that they will be out-of-date merely in re gard to fashion, or with respect to suitability for teaching under the best possible conditions. Though we may change fashions in hats, motor-cars, and even in bungalows, with undue frequency, it would be too costly a proposition to change fashions in schools every ten years or so. * * * AT £2 A WEEK They have a large pail of whitewash and a big brush at the Town Hall and every now and again, what is left over in the bucket after the periodical whitewashing of the Mayor, his committees and his council, the white-wash-man gets out and does up the elephants—the only elph. that refuses the bath being Jumuna, at the Zoo. For, be it understood, Jumuna earns its keep. One of the whitest white elephants is the Parnell tea kiosk, fitted up at great expense for the provision of refreshments —and dancing. But it seems as if no one wants to be refreshed in it, or to dance in it, and for nine months it has been tenantless. At length comes an employee, the district foreman at Parnell, willing to harness up this Jumbo and help the council in its dilemma. He offers the council £2 a week for the beast, which has cost the council £B,OOO, and the council accepts—with due gratitude, it is to be hoped. If it were private property, £2 a week wouldn’t pay rates on it. Still, the new tenant will have a fine domicile at the price and may earn an honest shilling or two if the crowd which visits the Parnell Park on fine days increases from three to five. If the whitewash refuses to rub off, the council might consider removing the elephant to the Civic Square, where it might receive more patronage.

Three Classes of Doctors.—Addressing Auckland University Law students last night. Dr. Kenneth McKenzie divided medical men into three classes from the lawyer’s point of view. First the general practitioner, the backbone of the profession; then the general practitioner, who specialised in a definite class of disease; thirdly. the specialist, who was an expert. “These distinctions are of importance to a lawyer,’’ he said.