GIFT TO MUSEUM

Otago Witness, Issue 4032, 23 June 1931, Page 5

GIFT TO MUSEUM

LARGE MAORI CANOE A VALUABLE ACQUISITION. Thanks to the generosity of a number ot well-wishers, the Museum will shortly have housed within its walls a genuine Maori canoe of dimensions which, apart from the value which may be attached to it from its historical associations, are such as immediately to catch the eye of the visitor and make it one of the most interesting exhibits of its class. llie canoe has recently been shipped to Dunedin .from Wanganui, freight free, through the good offices of Messrs H L. Tapley and Co., who are agents for the Canterbury Shipping Company. It was presented to the Museum by Mr T. W. Downes, a member of the Wanganui River trust, who is well known throughout the Dominion for his studies in Maori eth nology, and who has previously done a considerable amount of work for the Museum.

The canoe, which is at present lying outside the Museum buildings, is 52 feet tn length and is approximately 4 feet wide. It has been constructed from two distinct pieces of timber, the bow piece, eight feet in length, being dovetailed in in the correct Maori fashion. The main body of the canoe thus consists of 44 feet of solid totara, from which it may be concluded that the tree from which it was constructed must have been a veritable forest giant, and the work involved in shaping it with the tools then in use must have been tremendous. As this is a Wanganui canoe, the camber, or spread of the sides, is much greater than is the case further north, so that it is much wider than a canoe of similar length, from, say, the Waikato, would be. Ultimately it is hoped to add a carved figurehead, carved sternpost, bailer, and carved thwarts, while top strakes will also be added to the sides, making the canoe when complete a good six feet in width. For the present it is intended merely to scrub and repair the hull and paint the interior, after which the canoe W ?V V® placed on view in the central aisle of the Maori gallery. Tb® , earl 7 h'story of this product of the Maori builder’s art is unknown, though the donor. Mr Downes, hopes to secure., further detail in this connection, the very mystery which surrounds its history,’however, adds to its interest. As the visitor gazes at the weather-worn sides he may • picture to himself what scenes of Maori life it witnessed long ago along the gleaming reaches of the Wanganui, when its builders were jtill lords of the land. It is at least definitely *hat it carried the Prime Minister of New Zealand (Mr J. Ballance) upon .one of his official journeys up the river in the days when that method of travel was to be preferred to transit by land. It is hoped that the work of preparing and mounting the canoe will be completed within a month’s time, and the Museum will then have what will probably be to many one of the most ing exhibits in the gallery.