A PAGE FROM MAORI HISTORY.
Rawiri Te Maire, whose death is announced, was (says the "Otago Daily Times") one of the last of the old Maoris. It may be said that Maoris are growing old every day, but this old man was one of the old school. Being over eighty years of age, he was a grown man before Christianity was introduced. He was, perhaps, the last survivor of those who had lived in the interior of Otago. In 1836, when Rauparaha's raids were nearly spent, one of his captains, named Te Puoho, crossed the Haast Pass and entered Central Otago by Lake Wanaka with a considerable band of men. They captured or killed the whole of the Wanaka Natives, and would have served those of Hawea in the same way, but a lad escaped and got away to Hawea, where he warned his tribe, all of whom fled down the Waitaki to the coast. Te Maire was one of these fugitives, and neither he nor any of his tribe ever returned. Te Puoho carried his captives right down through Central crossing the Remarkables to the present site of Kingston, and passing down the Mataura Valley to Tuturau, where he was shot in an encounter with the Foveaux Strait Maoris. The man who shot him, Topi of Ruapuke, is still living at a great age. Ten of the prisoners survived, some of whose descendants are well known in Otago. Rawiri leaves a family of several generations. -Lyttelton Times, 23/8/1899.
FUNERAL OF A PROMINENT MAORI CHIEF.
A correspondent writes: — As was noted in your paper recently, the old chief Rawiri Te Maire, aged 91 years, died at his late residence, Waihao (South Canterbury) on August 16. It is the custom amongst Maoris when a death occurs for the nearest of kin to the deceased to communicate at once with all the pas interested, especially so if the death be that of a chief. Great difficulty is often experienced in deciding upon the place of burial, as it is necessary to trace back and find out the place of interment of his elders (Tepunas). Such was the case with the late chief. Messrs Teone Parata, Tiemi Hipi, Hoani Matiu, and Ephia Maaka were deputed to proceed to Waihao to bring the body of the chief to Karitane for interment at Tehaukapakapa (name of the cemetery), the place in which several other chiefs are buried, including Kahuti and Matiu. The body arrived at Puketiraki on Saturday, 19th inst., by the 6 p.m. train from Oamaru. With it came Mr and Mrs H. D. Maire, Reihana Maire, Mrs Hoani Kahu, and grand-children, chief mourners, and others from various kaingas. The funeral took place on Monday, 21st, and the remains were followed by close on 200 persons. The pall-bearers were Messrs Teone Parata, Hoani Matiu, Teohi Taiaroa (Karitane), and Tikou Wira (Temuka), all dressed in Native costume — viz., kahahu, or Maori mats, over their shoulders. The remains were laid alongside those of deceased's elder people, which were consigned to their last resting place many years ago in Tehaukapahapa. The late chief was a descendant of Putauaho, Awanuiaraki, Rakaihautu, Ru of the hapu Huirapa, Tuahauriri, Rakiamoa Hateatea. Friends and others from all parts of the South Island and Chatham Island were present at the tangi, including the Hon. H. K. Taiaroa (Southbridge), Mrs Apa Taiaroa (Chatham Islands), John Connor (Henley, Taieri), Harry Kahu, Hoani Kahu, Eruera Waak and others (Temuka), Hoani Maaka, Pohipi Tehua, G. P. Mutu and others (Kaiapoi), G. Robertson, Hoani Taupoki, and others (Little River), Mrs and Miss S. Rikus (Timaru), Teone Teururaka (Waitaki North), Tare Te Kahu (Waitaki South), Thomas Edwards and others (Otakou), John Milliar and others (Purakanui). Rawiri Te Maire had been a Wesleyan local preacher since 1840, and in 1888, when the serious trouble at Omarama arose, he was chief in saving bloodshed. His death is a serious loss to his people. The Rev. M. Vanes, of Waikouaiti, conducted the funeral services. -Otago Witness, 31/8/1899.
A NOTABLE CENTENARY
SUGGESTED MEMORIAL AT WAIKOUAITI
The Rev. M. A. Rugby Pratt, at last nights quarterly meeting of Trinity Church officers, referred to the forthcoming centenary of the work of the Methodist Church in New Zealand. He said that, whilst the honour of introducing Christianity to the North Island of New Zealand belonged to the Anglican Church, that honour so far as the South Island was concerned fell to the Wesleyan Methodists. Next year the Methodists would complete their first century in the north, and were proposing to erect a memorial on the site of their first mission station. It was not until 1840, however, that any organised Christian effort was made for the South Island. The first mission m this island was established by the Wesleyans at Waikouaiti on May 17 1840 in response to the request of Mr "Johnny" Jones. Mr Pratt holds the original letter of Mr Jones applying for a missionary to the Mission Committee in Sydney. To mark the work of Mr Watkin, the pioneer missionary, the name of the old mountain Hikororoa had been changed to Mount Watkin on the initiative of the Maori converts of the mission. The mission house was on the peninsula that then bore the name Huriawa, but is now known as Karitane Peninsula. Many guesses have been made at the meaning of the word "Karitane," and Mr W. H. & Roberts, in his volume on the "Place Names of Otago" hazards several conjectures. The name Huriawa, was changed to "Karitane" on the suggestion of a Wesleyan lay preacher the chief Rawiri Temaire, who at a korero on Hautekapa Hill, on the peninsula, said that the work of Mr Creed ("Karita") should be marked as had the work of his predecessor Mr Watkin. He suggested altering the name of the peninsula, but as "Karita" did not satisfy the Native sense of euphony, he said to the assembly: "Let us ad 'tane' (man). The assembly acclaimed the suggestion, and Karitane it since has been. There lives at Waikouaiti a half-caste lady who was baptised by Mr Watkin, and who remembers distinctly the circumstances of the renaming of old Huriawa Peninsula. Mrs Creed, the missionary's wife, took great interest in the Native women. She taught the women the nurture of babies and taught the girls to sew, and her name was affectionately associated with that of her husband when their name was thus geographically commemorated. It is fitting, too, that a name given in such circumstances should be borne by the homes established by Dr Truby King in the interests of motherhood and child life. Mr Pratt suggested that in connection with the coming centenary celebrations that, although the work at Waikouaiti had been begun only 80 years ago, it was fitting that the historic spot where Christianity made its first efforts in the South Island should have a monolith or other monument to commemorate the event and those associated with it. The Marsden memorial in the North Island was off the beaten track, but a monument such as he suggested, standing on the site of the old mission house on the Native reserve, would be visited as a sacred shrine by people of all religious denominations. It would be visible alike from sea and land. He had no doubt that people of all creeds would gladly unite in making the spot where Christianity began in this island a spot, moreover, that had associated with it many Maori traditions of great interest. It may be added that Mr Pratt has at present the baptismal, marriage, and burial registers of the Waikouaiti Mission from 1840 to 1859. Amongst those baptised by the Wesleyan missionaries are 22 of the 25 chiefs who signed the document for the sale of the Otago block. It was the missionaries who first taught the Natives to read and write. Mr Watkin's successor, the Rev. Charles Creed, as early as December, 1845, preached to Natives at Otepoti, which, is now part of Dunedin. -Otago Daily Times. 13/10/1920.
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