INFLUENTIAL MAORI

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19339, 1 June 1937, Page 4

INFLUENTIAL MAORI

CAPT. WM. T. PITT PASSES VETERAN OF TWO WARS OLD TIME FOOTBALL STAR .Maori and pakelia residents of Poverty Bav, and many of both raves in different parts of the Dominion, will learn with iteep regret of the death of Captain \\ illiam T. J’itt, which occurred late last night after a -short illness. Captain l'itt’s health lately had caused anxiety tu his family and friends, but last .week he showed a good recovery, and on Sunday was so much improved that he was able to join his family's celebration of his sixtieth birthday-. Subsequently, lie sullered a seizure, however, and grew progressively worse until lie passed peaeefuliy away at midnight. A veteran of two wars, a man of much inliuenec among the natives ot the district, tlie late captain 1 ’itl. was latterly an officer of the .Maori welfare division ol tiie Native Department, and in that capacity became widely known to members ot the newer generation of Poverty (uiy people. Those oi the older generation, however, will remember..hint as a. former captain, ot the Poverty Pay Hugby Union's representative team, a man of considerable social attainments, and a keen advocate of the .Maori po.ni of view on many political problems. Close Friend of Late Sir J. Carroll

lie was a close friend of the late Sir dames Carroll, during! bis Jong representation of Gisborne in the Louse ol Kepresentatives, and acted on Ins beliah 111 a number of private affairs; while Ins organising ability was largely responsible for the success of many large gatherings with which lie was associated.

The soil of the late .Major C. I). Pill, an Imperial Army officer who settled ni Poverty Pay in the early days of pakelia settlement, and married a Ijlue-blooden member of the Aitanga-a-Mahuki tribe, William Pitt was born at Waerenga-a-hika on May 30. 1877. lie was educated at the Gisborne Centrai School, and snbsequently entered the service of Messrs. Williams and Kettle, Limited, widen nought out the business in which lis lather previously had been interested.

A lad of fine physique, lie quickly gained prominence in sporting! circles, and progressed through the junior football division to the senior ranks, eventually becoming captain and a skilful leader of the district’s senior representative team. Ilis father was anxious that lie should adopt an army career, and he enlisted in the permanent forces, being stationed first at Auckland and later at Titahi Pay, Wellington, where the outbreak of the Boer War found him. Overseas Service Captain Pitt was a member ot the first New Zealand Contingent sent to South Africa, and later returned to the Dominion to receive a commission as lieutenant, with which rank he sailed again with a later contingent. At the close of tiie Boer War, he was demobilised at Wellington, and there entered the Native Department, becoming, in the course ol a number of years, chief native clerk in the department. Again war interrupted his peacetime pursuits, and in 1914 Captain Pitt was among tiie first volunteers for overseas service, receiving a commission with the Maori Pioneer Battalion, and serving in Egypt, Gallipoli and Malta, before being invalided home to the Dominion. Subsequently he was a Gisborne delegate to the first conference of returned soldiers in New Zealand, being elected to preside over (lie gathering at which the New Zealand Returned Soldiers’ Association was inaugurated. After the close of the Great War, Captain ,1 ’itt, having resigned from the Native Department, entered business in Gisborne as an advocate and interpreter, attached to the Native Land Court, and lie was largely responsible, it lias been claimed, for the investigation of such long-standing sources of friction as the Patutahi confiscation of land, dating hack to the period of the Ilauhau troubles. Wtclc General Knowledge A man of wide general knowledge, and versed in the tradition and customs of the Maori people, lie enjoyed much influence in the native community particularly, and in 1930 lie was appointed to the welfare division of the Native Department, an appointment in which lie rendered sterling service. The late Captain Pitt is survived by Mrs. Pitt and one daughter, .Miss Peggy Pitt, to whom tiie deepest sympathy will be extended. As a tribute to his personality and his work for the native people, large-scale obsequies have been planned, and will take place during today ami to-morrow at Poho-o-Rawin. The deceased was particularly prominent in Maori Hugby football circles, and in his captivity of member of the Maori' Advisory Board to the New Zealand union, invariably used bis influence for the improvement of sporting relations between native and pakelia. By his skilful representation of the Maori point of view, lie was able on more than one occasion to smooth down causes of friction in this district and elsewhere, and as an administrator, selector and coach of native teams, he also gave much help to the game. A staunch supporter of the amateur code, be threw his whole weight against, all proposals for the development of League football among the .Maoris, and against the exploitation of existing grievances to weaken the adherence ol the natives to the Hugby Union game.