MAORI CHIEF'S HOME.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20587, 1 July 1932, Page 15

MAORI CHIEF'S HOME.

-' ! 7 HISTORIC building.

landmark at petone. Standing forlornly in tlie middle of timbff 7 ard near tllo Petono Lcach * a «mall wooden houso with an inhistory' " waS lhe IlomC ° f L descendants of the great Maori hi&f Honiana Tc Pnnij and it is claimed L Ihj the oldest wooden building in the'Petone district, having been erected between IS6S and 3870. It was the only house in the locality at that time aid being of substantial wooden construction, with an attic under a shingled joof 'it must have been an object of peat interest to the Maoris and the early settlers. To-day it is used as a storehouse for old machinery and other unwanted odds Tall stacks of timber complexly surround it and prevent its being seen from the road, which is just as Ttdrior with its present commonplace Seated iron roof, its barred ant broke* windows, and its general appear an* of dilapidation and neglect this iwrhaps the most interesting building £ Petone is better left unseen.

-" Unlit Between 1868 and 1870. wj T Love, who is a descendant on ' Ms Aether's side of the famous Honiana f« PnnL • declares that the house was \ Jnritt' between 1868 and IS7O by a Eu- \ roprtffl tot Henare Tc Pum, ti son of the Old Chief- The locality on which u ■ 'stan&ww called by the Maoris "Te Sorb KorO" and this eventually became thi .name of the' house. In it Judge Maeksvheld his first Native Land Oourt to P#W in 1889. Although Pitoone.. tho home {>f- Honiana Te Puni, stand'iag on What is now the beach end of Te Poa}. street, was the family home, in 'years Te Koro Koro became the ' Te JPmi fftmily home. The land on which I the house stands was left by will to t" a Tauwaki cousin, who eventually sold i it to its present owners, to become part oMbe.t&vber yard. v A lively interest, in the old house ik taken by the Mayor of Petone (Mr B. MeKeufciej, who is of the opinion that Jhe pliee should be preserved as " a national popeaston., "It is a sad sight,." sail- Mr': "to see thig famons ruthlessly allowed to die. It. is hut-as yesterday since Te ; " Pnni and .his family were revered for the gntmtops services given to ' tfce white settlers when they were is fosjeration and ia-peril of their live?. Te PuniAome was a place of beauty, with romance and glory. But is gone and only vandalism i confront the. eyo." Gratitude to Family. great chief, Honiana Te Puni, I' Mni». often referred to in historic docusaid Mr McKenzie, for Te Pun> sjpliis family earned the everlasting of the white settlers by show to be tree friends in : tie. early and troublesome days. Honi;W;Ta Pnni was the steady friend and ,2 } oiegtilt of the Europeans and for his presented by Queen Vic- < Vtoj&tfift a sword of honour. He was ■ ainaaof great influence, not only with ' tribe, bnt with the Ngatitoa. assistance he and his people . fadeonqtiered the country around Wei > , Puni died at an advanced i l and whs buried in th<» near the Petone beach, s' r ' &r from the house, T«* A monument, erected by " .iPifmetoment over his grave, still of his services to i- aethers. On one face is '"' 1 "To the memory of ' Rtynfti ?e Puni, a chief of Ngatiawa, on thd sth December, 1870," other is: "This montrnent New Zealand Govern- " 'SMiSj B^Pra ti°n of the unbroken - between him and the v \-HnlM*??' The other two sides of the bear the same inscriptions