MAORI WARRIOR

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVI, Issue 3376, 2 June 1932, Page 5

MAORI WARRIOR

BATTLE OF MOUTOA SURVIVOR DEATH AT WANGANUI. Hori Pukehika, the last survivor of the Battle of Moutoa, on the Wanganui River, died at the age of 85, on Sunday night. He was a well-known character in and about Wanga'nui since the settlement became a town of importance. Some fifty years ago he was known to the Maoris, old and young, on the river, and he probably knew more than any other man of the rapids, currents, and eddies of the Wanganui River. He had considerable influence among the river Maoris, and was of great assistance in the arrangement of the annual New Zealand championship speed-boat and Maori canoe championships. His veracity was never questioned and his advice has been sought by several historians interested in Maori and early Wanganui history. Hori Pukehika was born at Pipiriki in 1847.

Mr. J. H. Burnet, director of the Alexander Museum, Wanganui, states that Pukehika was the last of the old school of Maori wood carvers. He was a true artist, and had carved some magnificent panels for the first Christchurch Exhibition. He was a learned man, a keen antiquarian, and a life trustee of the Wanganui Museum. Some of his work is_ preserved and valued in Wanganui and in other parts of New Zeala'nd.