SAW FIRST TWO SHIPS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 264, 7 November 1932, Page 8

SAW FIRST TWO SHIPS.

ELDERLY CANTERBURY MAORI •■ * ' . ■ WORKING IN , SHEARING GANG. OVER NINETY YEARS OF AGE. Eighty-two years ago, a Maori Boy at Rapaki pa watched with open-mouthed-astonishment'two stately ships, with sails outspread, ~ sail •serenely up Lytteltbn Harbour, bringing the yanguard'of the first Canterbury pilgrims. That boy was Teone Watene, and the sight of the" ships frightened him, because he, Sad never seen such a thing before. * He was then.'about ten or twelve years of age, - and 'he was destined to see remarkable changes take place in the land of his forefathers in the years that were to follow.

Teone Watene, now well past 90 year 3 of age, is actively-at work in the shearing at Mr. K. M. D. Morten's sheep station, at Tai Tapu, states the "Christchirrch Times." He is still aMe to work, and when a photographer and a reporter noticed him there he preferred to keep on working rather than stand still for a few minutee and talk of the past; for Teone has always been a man of action. To him work is life, and he cheerfully remarked that he would have been dead many years if he had lost the desire to work. Fine Physical Specimen. Teone is a remarkable man for his years. He is probably the oldest living Maori, in the South Island, and, with the blood of a chieftain in his veins, he is a fine physical specimen. For many years he Mβ led his shearing, gang, and Ahuriri station knew him in the days when it was owned by the late Mr. Robert Rhodes, more than 56 years ago. He lives in RapaM still, and he gets plenty of happiness out of life.

Eighty-two years is a long span, and Teone occupies a unique position as one who stood on the shore and watched the first four ships sailing up Lyttelton Harbour. "They looked like trees com-

what were his impressions of that historic occasion. "I did not know what they were or why they came, as I had never seen such a sight before/'-the.old man continued;* "but I raced round to see them - come in."

' It was said of Teone that he was 100 years old, but the-old Maori eays that he could not have been more than : ten or twelve years old when those ships came sailing in, bringing with them a new people and opening up a new history for this part of New Zealand. ■. , , Never Seems to Tire. Teone ihas travelled, a ■ good deal.in his time. .'He .rode on horseback.to Dunedin;in the days when there were no railways and few bridges, and--.he has been out with hie shearers to manyplaces in Canterbury. But he ie not a man'who' likes to spend his time talking when there is work to be done. His mind was occupied with. the counting of the sheep as they were released from 'the-pen after they were shorn, and the work of ■ branding them, when the reporter and the photographer interrupted him for a few minutes. It is ten ■ or ' twelve years since /Teone . has done any of the actual shearing, but he is an indispensable member-of the gang, for he never seems to tire. - He has a philosophy of life that enables him to obtain pleasure where.others would not be able to find it. .. ....-.-! ■ ■ •