In the opinion of many, John Taiapa's masterpiece (and also the masterpiece of modern Maori carving) is the house named Apanui at Te Kaha, completed in 1942. 1. Building Art in the Maori Tradition

John Taiapa and the Carved Meeting House of To-day by E. G. Schwimmer THREE major carved Maori houses have been opened over the last eighteen months, two of them on the East Coast, the third and latest on the shores of Lake Taupo. The work in these houses is competent, terse and forceful; while following ancient tradition it still has the vigour and subtlety of a living art. There are strong sentimental reasons why this art should be kept alive. Among stone-age peoples no better woodcarving was ever done than that of the ancient Maori. It is this art more than anything else in Maori tradition that has given the Maori a claim to special genius in the judgment of the world. With such a tradition to uphold, it is natural that the Maori people would wish to keep woodcarving alive if at all possible. Is it possible? Some people suggest that wood-carving talent has died out and that no expenditure of money could bring it back again. Those people draw the conclusion that therefore no money should be spent on Maori carving. One wonders how this myth about the non-existent Maori carvers should ever have started. All the facts deny it, yet it is widely believed. Mr John Taiapa, who carved the house at Waihi, told me that he and his brother, Pine, have trained literally hundreds of carvers while they were working on their many meeting houses; in fact they are considering issuing diplomas to those who have worked with them for at least four years full time and who would, in their view, be quali-