usually discarded, the women at Tokomaru Bay used it to make pois. Expeditions to the back of Tologa Bay were needed to procure enough of the vine, which was gathered by the truck load. The rib part of the kie kie was boiled in plain water and dried to make it white. Natural dyes were used to colour the kie kie. The barks of the hinau and mako trees were boiled in a vat with the vine. The addition of rusty tins to the brew helped the dye to stick. The kie kie was then immersed in the special black swamp earth at Tikitiki and left for some weeks for the dye to take. Pingao, which is naturally a bright yellow when dried, was also used in the panels. After the kie kie had been processed the actual weaving was begun. Wooden frames were nailed to crossbars and hung vertically to hold the panels. Dried sticks of the pampas grass were cut to a special length and the “sleeves” slipped off them to make them a uniform thickness. They were tied vertically to the frame with flax; an odd or even number, often about 40 to 47, were used depending upon the design. Nails were hammered down the frame at intervals to support the horizontal roof-red painted wooden slats. The border of the panels, which is called “tumatakahuki”, a special stitch of its own, was woven first to hold the reeds and slats in place. The design chosen was worked out on graph paper, the stitches, or crosses, being inked in. All designs were begun from the centre and drawn in outwards. The weaving was done from the graph paper pattern and usually one colour was systematically woven first. Small strips of kie kie were pushed between a slat and the reed at the back until two ends protruded at the back of the panel. These were knotted—and this forms one stitch. The design is formed in a series of crosses, with variations in the form of the crosses. Two people worked to a panel, one weaving, one at the back, tying the ends. Each large panel has between 11,000 and 13,000 stitches, at least 100 to a row. In all, nine large panels about 7 feet high, and several smaller panels were made. Traditional patterns were used in the main, but some were designed by the local people. There are three special panels, a War Memorial panel; a panel incorporating the initials of the school; and one with a name of the school “Hatea a Rangi” woven into it. A large panel in memory of Mrs Kiri Matahiki, has also been done, using some of her own purple and green dyed kie kie with the traditional colours. Several of the traditional patterns were used. Some of them including the roimata stitches, roimata turuturu and roimata toroa, which represent the tears of the albatross in an old Maori legend. Inclusion of these stitches in any panel turns it and Mrs N. Cross, Tokomaru Bay, at work on the Poutama Porourangi panel. the room in which it is housed into a memorial. Poutama, man's span of life in steps, and also the East Coast version, Poutama Porourangi, and Papa Kirango, the fly-catcher design of swats and black flies are among the other panels not pictured. The people of Tokomaru Bay have every reason to be proud of their work, which is a magnificent example of group work, and patience. The result is a room of great artistic value and an inspiration to all those interested in the fostering of Maori Art.