MAORI CARVING

Hokitika Guardian, 16 September 1931, Page 2

MAORI CARVING

LAST MASTER DEAD. AN OUTSTANDING ARTIST. ROTORUA, September 14. The wateis of R inga have closed over Tene Waitere, last of the long line of Awara Maori craftsmen, tohunga of the Ngati Terawhae (the carving tribe), who for generations have handed down from father' to son the secrets of the art of Maori carving. Tene Waitere, who was seventy-seven years of age, died at the home of his grand daughter, Guide Rangi, of W.hakarewarewa, recently. His death removed a man who was an outstanding artist who had done more perhaps than any other man to make the Arawa carvings famous throughout New Zealand and abroad. Many of the most distinguished visitors gave him commissions, and to-day specimen of his work are to be found all over the world. His Majesty the King, when lie visited Rotorua as Duke of York, was presented with one of Waitere’s most notable carvings—a model of the historic Arawa canoe, in vvhidh his great ancestor, the high priest Nga Toroi Rangi, of the Arawas, came to New Zealand six centuries ago. When the Prince of Wales visited New Zealand he was presented with a Maori flagpole carved by Waitere. Also he worked a model of a pataka or Maori foodhouse, which was presented to their Royal Highness the Duke and Dimness of York.

Examples of Waite re’s work are to be found all over New Zealand and his assistance and advice as an authority on the design and execution of carvings was on many occasions sought by the School of Maori Arts and Grafts and the Touri-t Department. The striking shelter for the statue of

Queen Victoria at Ohinemutu is one well-known carving carried out hv t*ie old Arawa craftsman. The gateway to the model t>a. at Whakarewaiewa and the famous “carved house” are arso classic ! examples of his work, which may be seen near his home. Unique pieces cf Maori d 'sigir for interior decorating were also carried out by Waitere—examples are the carved work in the dining room at the Spa Hotel. Terrm. °nd the mas'ive carved Maori nnnteh’i n ces in the G and Hotel. Auckland, and the Grand Hotel. Rotorua. Waitere was commissioned to do special pieces for tlm Du"cdin Exhibition and he carried out the carvings of the famous model meeting house at Gisborne.

SURVIVOR OF T 4 RAWER A ERUPTION. The hv-t work of Waitere. and possibly the one for which he will be best remenvbored. was a memorial for bis own daughter, Mrs Rimupae Kereopa.

The aged carver made hi...'last public appearance at the unvcillfii'i ol that memorial and three weeks later he himself said “Haera-ra” on the sit© of his patient labours. He was buried at Rotoiti iii the ancient burial ground of his people, overlooking the lake and in the heart of the country which his work had done so much to make the centre of Maori carving craftsmanship. Waitere went through the terrible nights and days of the T’arawera eruption and was one of the survivors who escaped from the buried village of Te Wairoa, overwhelmed by the devastating forces of the mountain. It was then that he brought his family to live in Rotorua. He traced his descent to the very coming of the Maoris to Neiv ■Zealand through Nga Toroi Rangi. A Maori of high descent and standing in his tribe, he had met the notabilities of many lands and had earned through many years of patient craftsmanship a reputation which made him a notability himself.