MAORI CULTURE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 708, 6 July 1929, Page 18

MAORI CULTURE

PRESERVATION OF TE KOOTI’S MEETING HOUSE MINISTER’S COMMENTS is one of the finest memorials of Maori culture, the beautifully carved Maori meeting house at Mata-atua, built by the notorious rebel leader, Te Kooti, to be lost to New Zealand by lack of proper preservation measures? This danger was recently emphasised by a visiting Norwegian artist, Mr. G. Rikard Schjelderup, after seeing the state of disrepair into which the building had fallen, and the decay with which the structure and the carvings it housed were threatened. The president of the New Zealand Tourist League, Mr. G. M. Fowlds, directed official notice to the warning, and the league yesterday received a reply from the Minister of Native Affairs, the Hon. Sir Apirana Ngata. The Minister states he had something to do with the proposal to repair the carved meeting house during the lifetime of the chief of Ruatahuna, Te Amo Kokouri, who died three months ago. He understood it is now proposed to remove the building to Ruatoki, the Ruatoki and Ruatahuna natives being closely related. "The house is really a modern one built by the late Te Kooti Rikirangi, who was so prominent in the Maori wars, and who founded the Ringatu cult, the premier religion of the Maori tribes in the Bay of Plenty and Urewera, and his people,” says the Minister. ‘‘From the Maori standpoint it is the carvings, the rafters with the appropriate rafter patterns and the decorative panels, that are most worth preserving.” The greatest risk was from fire, the Minister stated. Hence the necessity of some fireproof roofing material and wall protection. The idea of concrete foundations was inspired by the need of preserving the carved slabs and posts. “You will not find the Maoris anywhere enthusiastic in handing over their tribal buildings to organisations on which European representation will necessarily be predominant,” the Minister adds. “The precedent of the carved house ‘Matatua,’ which formerly stood at Whakatane, was sent to London and nearly rotted to destruction there, was sent back to the Dominion on the occasion of the Dunedin Exhibition, cind is now about to be re-erected under the auspices of the Otago Museum, is not encouraging. ‘‘There are other reasons why it seems desirable that these carved structures should remain in important Maori villages, where they will undoubtedly influence the minds of the younger generation of Maoris,” he said.