Maori Arts & Crafts

To give pakeha children a wider understanding of the ways of the Maori, greater emphasis is to be placed in the schools on the teaching of Maori arts and crafts. To further this end, a group of supervisors from arts and crafts department of the Education Dept. conducted a course for selected school teachers in the Nelson district this month. The teachers will, in turn, pass on their acquired knowledge to their pupils. In the course the teachers learned the meaning of action songs, Maori enunciations, poi dances, weaving, carving and customs. When we visited the Scout hall at Tahuna, we found the teachers thoroughly enjoying themselves in learning.

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Miss Mere Kururangi, Maori adviser, formerly of Gisborne, takes a class in an action song

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Wearing flax headbands this group watches Miss Cath Brown, Christchurch, weave a flax bag.

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Miss Kururangi

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Cliff Whiting, arts and crafts, Nelson, demonstrates tools used for carving