The traditional Māori continued to be used in rural areas in particular well into the post-contact period. They were usually very small with a dirt floor and full of vermin, especially fleas. In winter a central fire was lit that filled the with smoke which slowly filtered through the roof. Even as late as 1849 George Cooper, the assistant private secretary to George Grey, described a village in the relatively affluent lower Eastern Waihou River area as "a wretched place, containing about a dozen miserable raupo huts all tumbling to pieces". 11. In the 19th century settlements were -based, and 5 buildings became standardised: the sleeping , or communal cookhouse/shelter, or wood store, or storehouse, and increasingly from the 1870s or community meeting house. Significant finance and was invested in increasingly elaborate meeting houses which became a source of or pride and prestige.