LATE REV. E. MATETE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22512, 1 September 1936, Page 12

LATE REV. E. MATETE

GREAT GATHERING AT TANG! MAORIS FROM MANY DISTRICTS [by telegraph OWN" correspondent] TUAKAU, Monday Large numbers of Maoris from a!! over the Waikato, King Country, Rotorua, Auckland. North Auckland and West Coast districts have arrived to attend the tangi following the death of the Ret*. Eruoti Taiponitu Matete, a leading chief of the Ngati-tipa and other tribes, and, a close relative of the Maori King Koroki. Mr. Matete was a minister of the Methodist Church, and among those who have come to attend the tangi and funeral, besides King Koroki and Princess Te Puea Herangi, are the llev. A. J. Seamer, of Auckland, general superintendent of the Methodist Maori Mission, many Methodist Ms.ori ministers, mid other workers. Services are being conducted by the Rev. Matene Keepa, the Rev. Hori Kakuere, and others. Princess Te Puea's Maori choir from Ngaruawahia Pa sang at the services yesterday. The body is lying in state at the Tuakau Pa, Mr. Matete's late residence, where all day bo th Maoris and Europeans have been arriving to pay their respects. Mr. Matete, who was highly connected 05i both his mother's and hi« father's side, attended St. Stephen's College, and was at one time a lay reader in the Anglican Church before joining the Methodist Church. At Te Kohanga 37 years ago he wa? married to Tamaiwaho Te Puaha Green, of the Ngati-Maniapoto tribe. He had lived in Tuakau for the past 23 years.