THE WINSTON CHURCHILL MEMORIAL TRUST

Tu Tangata, Issue 1, 1 August 1981, Page 33

THE WINSTON CHURCHILL MEMORIAL TRUST

Every year the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust offers fellowships “for investigation or some other activity in New Zealand or overseas which will contribute to the advancement of any occupation, calling, trade, business or profession, or will in some way be to the benefit of New Zealand, or will aid the maintenance of the Commonwealth as a beneficial influence in world affairs”.

Any New Zealander is eligible, and yet the Secretary of the Trust, Mr R.E. Warboys, is concerned that there is a huge chunk of New Zealand society i.e. the Maori people who are not taking advantage of the opportunities the Trust offers.

Mr Worboys says, “It has become very noticeable how few Maoris apply for a fellowship. Last year, out of 200 applications only two came from Maoris. And yet they are as entitled to apply as anybody else.”

Of those two applications, one was successful. As a result Mr Maui Pomare found himself touring the world for three months.

“I think it’s a very marvellous opportunity for Maoris,” said Mr Pomare, a well-known figure in the Wellington region. “It gives opportunities that other schemes don’t give. You write your own terms of reference.” This is certainly true. He is a lecturer in agriculture at the Central Institute of Technology in the Hutt Valley, yet his chosen field of activity for the fellowship had nothing to do with soil, crops or livestock.

“I wanted to examine the Maori artefacts held in museums and private collections overseas, particularly those dating from before the period of European contact. My purpose was to make an evaluation of them, and to compare them with those which have remained in New Zealand. Via this study and comparison we can throw light on pieces not written about before and learn a lot more about Maori art and technology. I think our artefacts are a very important part of our Maori heritage, and therefore of New Zealand’s heritage.

I think they are as important to us as our land.” Did this mean that all such pieces in overseas collections should be returned home? “Not necessarily. As a blanket policy it would be expensive and impratical. But I came across instances where objects were not being cared for properly, or where there was not much interest in them. Anyway, there seems to be a growing feeling in museum circles that artefacts and works of art should where possible be kept in their home countries. In cases like these we could always swap them for foreign items in our own museum collections here in New Zealand.

“But this idea of repatriation was not uppermost in my mind when I made my original application to the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust. It was an idea that just developed as I travelled and became more aware of the possibilities. That’s the beauty of travel.”

There is no denying that Maui Pomare travelled extensively.

He went to the Cook Islands, then to Honolulu. Here he studied Sir Peter Buck’s collection and also examined Hawaiian feather cloaks, thus learning more about Maori cloaks. He travelled through Canada and the United States, and was able to see the collection made by Captain Cook which is kept in Salem, Massachusetts. From there he went to the United Kingdom and Europe. He even visited Jersey in the Channel Islands, where he discovered artefacts nobody had realised were Maori.

Such a tour was, of course, very expensive. He was granted enough money by the Trust to cover only half the cost. But with gratitude Maui Pomare points out that without his fellowship he could never have embarked on his researches in the first place.

Surely there are many others with a scheme worth studying, an idea worth developing or a contribution worth making? And yet, as the Trust’s secretary points out, they have been slow in coming forward. Mr Warboys continues: “The subject can be anything at all so long as the Trust is satisfied that it will be of benefit to New Zealand. Maori applicants may want to pursue studies in their professional field or, like Mr Pomare, pursue a completely different line of activity. I’m surprised, for example, that we have received no applications from Maori people curious to examine other indigenous cultures in, say, Australia or Canada. But it’s up to them. “If the ideas are there, if they meet the criteria, and if we can afford it from our limited budget then it’s all on.”