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i 947 NEW ZEALAND

MAORI PURPOSES FUND BOARD ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31st MARCH, 1947

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly pursuant to Section 14 of the Maori Purposes Fund Act, 1934-35

General The only meeting of the Board during the year was the statutory annual meeting, which was held on .the 3rd October, 1946. Their term of office having expired in December, the following members of the Board were reappointed on the 11th February : The Hon. Sir Apirana Ngata ; Johannes C. Andersen, Esq.; and the Very Rev. J. G. Laughton. Op assuming the portfolio of Native Minister in December, 1946, the Right Hon. Peter Fraser ex officio became the Chairman of the Board. Operations Education. —In previous years the Board has made two grants to the Education Department, one of £5OO to subsidize Government Maori Free Place Scholarships, and one of £250 to be used in assisting deserving Maori students who might otherwise be unable to continue their education at secondary school or university. This year the Board granted a total of £750 to be used for the latter purpose, provided that the number and value of the free-place scholarships can be otherwise maintained at the present level. * Arts and Crafts.- —In an endeavour to encourage the teaching of Maori carving the Board undertook to make a capitation grant of £5O each for one year for a maximum of five students trained at the School of Maori Arts and Crafts at Ruatoria. An offer was also made to finance the erection of a cottage at Ruatoria for the accommodation of instructors at the school, but it is understood that other arrangements have since been made. A further grant of £6O was approved for the importation of carving-chisels for Maori carvers, such chisels being in very short supply and more or less unprocurable in New Zealand at present. Ethnological Publications. —As in previous years, a grant of £3OO was made to assist the Polynesian Society towards the cost of publishing ethnological material. Several manuscripts on Maori matters are being considered by the Board's Literary Committee to assess their value for publication. Sales of the Board's publications amounted to 269 volumes, as compared with 301 in 1945-46.