AGED MAORI

Grey River Argus, 16 April 1925, Page 6

AGED MAORI

DEATH AT 108. v L’cr Press Associal iou) . AUKLAND, April 15. A Maori woman, named Hera Aiatewhitu, said to be 108 years old, (lied nt Huntly on Good Friday. She was generally known as “Old Ngaw.ii,’’ and dated her birth back to 1817. She has thus lived in the reigns of six British sovereigns, and was born onh two years after the Battle of Waterloo When -quite a little girl, Hera Alatewhitu must have been familiar with the terrible nam e of Hongi Hika, the Maori Napoleon, whose swift raids and massacres greatly induced the Maori piqmlation in the north during tho early “twenties.”. She was 23 years old before New Zealand came under British rule will) the .signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. The Waikato wars found her a middle-aged woman and living in the centre' of the district whore the hostilities were fiercest. Before her death. Hera Mate whitu had the rare privilege of seeing her great great grandchildren growing up abound her.