MAORI ARTS & CRAFTS

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 55, 2 September 1926, Page 10

MAORI ARTS & CRAFTS

» DISSEMINATION OF KNOWLEDGE ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOLS. The object of the Maori Arts and Crafts Bill, as explained by the Minister of Native Affairs (the Bight Hon. J. 6. Coates), when the measure was introduced in the House of Representatives early this morning, is to preserve and develop the arts and crafts of the Native people, and to disseminate knowledge of those arts and crafts. It is proposed to set up a Board of Maori Arts, the number of members of ■which is to be determined by the Gov-ernor-General in Council, who is also to make the appointments. The duties of the board as set out in the Bill are '' to foster and encourage the study and practice of Maori arts and crafts." The board may establish one or more schools of Maori art, and is empowered to acquire land and buildings for the purpose of the institutions. It is also to manage and control the schools and make appointments of teachers, fix instruction fees, etc. It is also empowered to undertake the control of Maori antiquities which are in the possession of the Crown, or may be entrusted to it. The board is to be maintained by annual appropriations by Parliament, and the Arawa District Trust Board and the Maori Purposes Fund Control Board are authorised to pay to the board out of their funds such sums as they think fit.