FIFTY YEARS AGO.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16434, 10 January 1917, Page 11

FIFTY YEARS AGO.

%' DEATH OF MAORI QHIEF. I W '& LOYAL NATIVE. (From the Herald of January 10, 1867.) We regret to record the death of the- chief Waata Kukutai, who expired at Waiuku on tho Bth inst Waata Kukntai, with the exception cf Tamata Waka Nene, has been, perhaps, the most thoroughly loyal native in New Zealand. During .the late Waikato campaign he, with his followers, rendered the Government essential service in assisting in carrying on tho river traffic, by which a regular commissariat was supplied to the toops. As was the case with William Thompson, we do not apprehend that Rokutai's decease will affect the existing peaceful relations between the two races. Thompson's influence bad died out, or was only powerful over the minds of the less violently-disposed of the king natives, for he was as litflo trusted by the more active rebels as he was by the Government. We regret that Waata Kukutai, who had adopted our habits and customs to a great extent, and whose position a s a leading chief would in times of peace have pointed him out as an example to the rest of his race, should have been « taken away in the prime of life.