THE MAORI AND HIS ART

Te Ao Hou, September 1967, Page 63

THE MAORI AND HIS ART by David Parker & Jeremy Commons Whitcombe and Tombs Ltd, 45c To begin with, Maui to the Maori was not a ‘wily rascal’. He was a man destined to be a God and because of this he acted the way he did. Also, when the Maori accepted Christianity he did not abandon his old Gods as is stated in this book. He publicly showed his acceptance but secretly held fast to his old beliefs. Believing the line of least resistance to be the most tactful, the Maori today still does this, in that outwardly he will live and act like his Pakeha neighbours but hold his Maoritanga privately. This could be why there is ‘a fusion of two civilisations’. I would rather see this happen than the ‘complete abandonment of one for the other’. The authors of the text have, I feel, made too many subtle mistakes — as in the two examples I have given here, and should have used the pages to show photographs of the Maori rather than to try and describe them. The photographs following the text are factual and yet confined to only one or two particular areas. In the picture of ‘Parts of a meeting house’ on the inside back cover, number 7, ‘Pare’ should be only over the door, and the part over the window should be named ‘Korupe’. I personally wouldn't use this book either for myself or as a present.