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Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 17, 20 January 1940, Page 13

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DEATH OF MAORI

THE TARANAKI WARS

(By Telegraph—Press Association.)

BLENHEiM," This Day.

The death at Waikawa Pa this week of Mr. Wiremu Kingi Keepa, aged 83, i-emoves from the district one of the few remaining elders of the Maori race. The deceased was highly respected and well known, particularly in the Picton and Sounds areas. He had an interesting connection with famous tribes in the North Island, being a direct descendant of the well-known chief of Manukorihi, a sub-tride of the Ataiawa, of Waitara, in the Tarariaki district, after whom he was named. It is believed among the Natives that this chief was more or less responsible for much bloodshed in connection with a land deal between his tribe and the New Zealand Land Company. It is stated that Wiremu Kingi te Rangitaake's refusal to sell an area of 600 acres of land through Mr. F. A. Carrington, surveyor to the New Zealand Land Company, for the purpose of setting up a capital town for the Taranaki Province in 1846, was the cause of the trouble ten years later when Europeans proceeded to settle 600 inhabitants intended for the capital of Taranaki, which was then known to them as Raleigh. There then began an almost continuous feud between the Natives and the Europeans. In March, 1860, Wiremu Kingi te Rangitaake, who refused with the .utmost determination to allow the land to be sold, fired the first shot, and it was during the early stages of these wars that the late chief's father was killed.

Mr. Wiremu Kingi Keepa was well versed in Maori lore, and his knowledge of Maori oratory was outstanding. He leaves a family of two.