A MAORI WARRIOR.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 27 September 1924, Page 3

A MAORI WARRIOR.

DEATH AT AGE OF 100. A very old man and well-respected rangatira of the north, Kerepeti, died on Saturday at Ngunguru, on the east, coast of Wliangarei County. This venerable warrior was visited recently by Mr W. M. Fraser, engineer to the Whangarei Harbour Board, who writes: Kerepeti was unable to state the year of his birth, but said that he was a young man fighting at Ruapekapeka, which was in 1845, so that at'the time of his death his age. would be about 100 years. In speaking of the old times, Kerepeti said that he first saw the light of day in the old .pa at Ngunguru, which at that time was fortified with palisading. The 1 old terraces and ramparts are still to he seen, but are now covered with scrub. He remembered going with a few others to the Ruapekapeka Pa to fight the pakeha, being led there by a guide from the Bay of Islands. They went as straight as possible through the bush, avoiding used tracks or roads. A little wheat- was all they took for food on the journey, and although they had a few guns they were hot allowed to fire a shot on the way. Kerepeti belonged to the "VVairariki Hapu, or sub-tribe of the Ngunguru. He first married Paia, and after her decease was again married to Ripeka, of the Ngatimanaia Hapu of Tutukaka, there being 19 children altogether of the two marriages. The old man remembered a raid coming on from Hauraki or Waikato by canoes. The local people - being in a minority hid in the hush on the hills until the raiders had departed. He saw the last of the old palisaded pas. A very large tangi was held at Kerepeti’s old home on the hank of the Ngunguru river, and the burial took place on Tuesday in the Ngunguru European Cemetery.' ■