CHIEFTAINESS PASSES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 98, 27 April 1932, Page 15

CHIEFTAINESS PASSES.

SAID TO BE 112 YEARS OLD.

LINK WITH HISTORIC EVENTS.

(By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.)

WHANGAREI, Tuesday,

Stated to be 112 years old, Mrs. Wiki Pirihi passed away at the Takahiwai native settlement yesterday morning. She was born at Whananaki in the year that the great chiefs Hongi and Waikato sailed to England to meet King George IV. She was of high rank in tlie Whangau-Whero tribe, and her marriage with the chief of the people who inhabited the southern shores of Whangarei Harbour was hailed with great delight.

Wiki Pirihi died many years ago, and at Takahiwai there stands a handsome monument to him carved from a totara tree.

Despite her venerable age, Chieftainess Pirihi was a wonderfully alert woman who retained until the last traces of the beauty which made her a commanding figure in the tribe. Six of her ten children died of old age, and to-day there arc 12.T descendants, including several great-great grandchildren. Until the time of her death, five generations of the family were living. On account of the high repute in which the chieftainess was held and her great age, the funeral will not take place for some time. A gigantic hui is being arranged.