A WELCOME GIFT

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 713, 13 December 1933, Page 4

A WELCOME GIFT

At a time when the Govern- . ment is forced to curtail many so-called luxury and cnltural items on the score of economy, the generous donation made by the Carnegie Corporation toward the extension of the Maori School of Arts and Crafts at Ohinemutu is particularly welcome, and adds another to the long serieS of international gestures of goodwill which the magnificent charitable and cultural development bequests made by the late Mr. Andrew Carnegie have made possible over a period of years. At the present rate of ex- ^ change, the grant of 12,500 dollars authorised is over J2S100, a sum sufficiently substantial to be of very considerable assistance to the school. In this present era of materialism, there is a tendency to overlook the value of work such as that which is being carried out by the school in preserving and reproducing the work of Maori crafts. Nevertheless it is work which will probably be valued more by future generations than some of those upon which mueh greater emphasis is being laid at present. The art of the Maori craftsman is the heritage of every New Zealander and is something quite unique in th'e world. It would be a most grave reflection upon our appreciation of that heritage if it was allowed to be forgotten, and if nothing was done to preserve it for the future. The Government, however, has realised the importance of this matter and has provided the nucleus of an institution which in the future should play a very large part in preserving and reviving the Maori crafts. The school at Ohinemutu has already produced some very notable work and it is only the inevitable hnancial restrictions which have prevented the work from being develop-' ed further. The assistance which is now to be extended through ! the Carnegie Corporation should j largely overcome the difficulty { and at he same time provide i tangible evidence of the interest ' which has been stimulated I abroad in Maori art.