MAORI ART

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19511, 13 February 1926, Page 5

MAORI ART

IS IT DYING OUT? DR. BUCK GIVES OPINIONS. Dr. Peter Buck, D. 5.0., (Te Rangi Hiroa) is one of the most popular members of the Maori race in New Zealand. He is a keen ethnologist and his observations, investigations and deductions in this field have been of the greatest value to those who are seek ing to piece together the fascinating history of the Maori people. To a Christchurch “Sun” representative Dr. Buck outlined the research work that is being carried out at present. Dr. Buck, who is a member of the Board of Directors of Maori Hygiene, under the Health Department, has done much research work, and his interest in the subject is not only scientific. He believes that the accumulation of knowledge will assist the feeling of national pride among men of his race, and strengthen the traditions the possession of which inspires ideals. Just at present the personal research he is undertaking lies along the study of Maori arts and crafts and also somatology. The evolution of clothing is engaging special attention. There are two pronounced schools of thought on the subject of arts and crafts. One holds that from a few original motifs they were evolved independently by the Maoris in New Zealand, and the other that they are the result of diffusion from a common centre. Dr. Buck inclines to the former idea, and for a space he chatted on that aspect. When the Maoris first came to New Zealand, he said, they started out with the colonising idea from Eastern Polynesia. They not only brought with them cultivated food plants, but also the paper-mulberry, the bark of which they used for cloth. But the mulberry did not grow well in New Zealand, and climatic conditions made its beaten bark unsuitable for clothing, so the Maoris began to use flax fibre for the purpose. In the flax, they had to combine the strands together to form a fabric. At the onset, they had, in possibly crude form the a~t of basket-mak-ing and the making of fish traps by plaiting. They used that knowledge as a basis in making clothing from flax. That point is important. It was not textile weaving that they carried out. They evolved the technique of the business from twining, until the art became developed to a high state that is represented in the coloured bands and embroidered garments. “The art is dying out fast?’’ suggested the “Sun” man.

“Yes,” was the reply, “I suppose it is defunct in the South Island, although, of course, mat-weaving is done. In places in the North Island the older generation still does fine work. One cannot blame lhe younger generation for its neglect. The younger people have not the time, for one thing, and it is inevitable that the culture of this civilisation will push out the old. Elaboration of Carving. Dr. Buck continued that he considered Maori carving was evolved in the same way. At the beginning, there were motifs such as the spiral seen in the carvings in the Marquesas Islands, but the technique was elaborated here. The temperate climate made for a greater industry among the people, and woodwork improved, whereas stone craft back. “Do you think the Maoris derived inspiration in carving designs from the Moriori whom they found in New Zealand?” asked the “Sun” man. Dr. Buck did not think there was any real influence, the Moriori being in a less advanced stage than the Maori. “It is impossible to dogmatise,” he added. “The whole subject of Polynesian and Melanesian ethnology has to be systematically studied, and a vast amount of information has yet to be collected. As yet with our limited knowledge we can only theorise. ” The Board of Research. Discussing the work of the Maori Board of Ethnological Research, Dr. Buck explained the method it had of

obtaining finance, this being derived from the operations of Maori land boards, trust funds, and by gifts. The board had made possible by financial assistince the publishing of several bulletins by Mr Eidson Best on such subjects as Alaori canoes, Alaori fortifications, Alaori agriculture, and games and pastimes. There was much other information of a similar character that could not be made available without assistance. Financial assistance also was given to the Polynesian Society, which is the second oldest ethnological society in the British-speaking world. Its work had been hampered through lack of funds. Since the board has assisted it, it had been able to improve the standard of its quarterly journ. I. By the inclusion of illustrations and diagrams, the usefulness of the publication made it a necessity to the scientific world. The board in the near future would be able to consider the question of giving assistance to research work in the field. It was helping Air H. D. Skinner, lecturer in anthropology at the Otago University, to exploit the field of rock paintings in Otago and South Canterbury, with a view of these being put on record by description and illustration. Dr. Buck added, that the board had assisted him in his own investigations into the evolution of Alaori clothing. In the near future, it would consider the question of helping research in the Cook Islands group. The PanPacific Congress has decided that research work in Polynesia should Le left to the United Stages and Nev Zealand, and as the Cook Islands now are part of the New Zealand administration, the board considered it should direct its attention there.