A MAORI LEADER

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 9, 10 July 1935, Page 18

A MAORI LEADER

(By Telegraph—Press Association.) V • ' TE KUITI, July,9. After a prolonged illness Tuwakaririka Potatau (Peter Barton), a paramount chief of the Ngati-Maniapoto 'tribe, died on Monday evening at his residence at Te Kuiti. He was connected with the Maori King family and all the leading families of the-.Tainui people, and took an active part in all matters pertaining to the Maori race. He was a forceful character and in his tribal and public utterances always took a definite stand, particularly in land matters. "He headed' ; several tribal deputations to Wellington. He was a large land owner in the Otorohanga and Te Awamutu districts, where he successfully carried on farming operations until, he retired fifteen years ago in favour of his family, who still farm their ancestral , lands at Hurimoana, near Ngahape. Mr. Barton was a grandson of Patena, who successfully curbed the turbulent element who raided Sir John (then Mr.) Gorst's headquarters at Te Awamutu just prior to the outbreak of the Waikato Maori War. Hauauru ("west wind"), in Mr. James Cowan's "Maoris of New Zealand," was a grand-uncle of the deceased, and was in his time one of the principal leaders in the early days of the Maori King movement. ' Hauauru v/as also the leading witness in the Native Land Court investigations of Native land in the King Country and performed the remarkable feat of giving evidence' daily, extending over a week, ef tribal history, occupation rights, and other matters. A tangi is being arranged at Te Kuiti, when Maoris from all parts of the Dominion are expected to be present.