TOWARDS A FULLER LIFE FOR THE AUCKLAND MAORI

Te Ao Hou, June 1959, Page 47

TOWARDS A FULLER LIFE FOR THE AUCKLAND MAORI To the Maori, the Auckland Adult Education centre is a place of special significance. First and most obviously, because it is the only public building in Auckland to have adopted Maori features of architecture. The main hall, pictured above, is a model of richness combined with subdued good taste. Adult education work for the Maori people is mainly done by the tutors Mr Matiu Te Hau and Dr Maharaia Winiata. Mr Te Hau is responsible for the Auckland area and for Northland. He lectures to Maori or European or mixed groups, organizes discussion groups, arranges for expert tutors on special subjects. He organizes ‘activity’ groups in such topics as Maori arts and crafts, floral art, fabric printing, pattern cutting, and clothing. Maori youth problems and leadership are some of the subjects on which he has conducted special schools. Exhibitions of work by Maori artists working in modern painting and sculpture media have also proved a valuable stimulus. One sample of this modern Maori work is shown on the opposite page. Dr Winiata works mostly on more traditional Maori lines. His area is south of Auckland and comprises the whole of the South Auckland education district. His groups are engaged in Maori carving, local histories, and arts and crafts projects; to ensure a high quality for these studies, Dr Winiata conducts a good deal of his own research or collates material available in out of the way places. He also stimulates Maori local government and youth leadership activities, initiates new ideas at Maori gatherings and generally strengthens Maori respect for traditions. At the same time he is very interested in finding a bridge between Maori and European culture and has organized weekend schools to bring about closer cultural understanding between the races. One important Maori adult education project due in Auckland in the near future is a conference of fifty of the younger Maori leaders. At this conference which will last a full week, the basic problems of the modern Maori will be discussed much along the same lines as a similar conference twenty years ago. As on that earlier occasion, Prof. C. Belshaw will play a leading part in the organization, supported by Mr S. R. Morrison, Director of the Regional Council, and his staff. E.S.