BURIAL OF TUTENGA

Taranaki Daily News, 31 October 1935, Page 8

BURIAL OF TUTENGA

SCENE AT THE PARIOI PA.

■ MEMORIES OF OLD WARRIOR. Tutenga Kani is dead. His body, mourned by dozens of relatives during the tangi, now lies buried on a hilltop overlooking the Parioi pa, Kakaramea. And the bearded, venerable old warrior who fought against Von Tempsky at Te Ngutu-o-Te-Manu, and who was the sole survivor of that historic battle, is now a memory. His grave stands at the top of a green hill overlooking the pa and much of the surrounding country. There he was carried on Monday, and there he was buried, while Rongonui, of Whenuakura, declaimed the funeral service, and relatives and friends looked on with the silence and the characteristic serenity of the Maori when facing the great mystery of death. For two years he had been blind, and for longer than that he had been stone deaf. He sat, shrouded in mystery, in his home on the rise overlooking the pa, and maybe pondered over the desperate battles with the Pakeha in the days gone by. But, full of the wisdom of his 110 years, he had outlived rancour and bitterness, and knew only the brooding peace of old age. He had even lived to see purely white man inventions like electricity installed at the pa, and to see the railway running within a few feet of his house. He could have written pages of New Zealand history, describing the soft pads of warriors on the march, of the ring of the axe on green bark and the swift bark and bite of the dreaded bullet. He could have lived over again the fury and the smoke and the shouting of the battle. Tutenga’s name will not die. His relatives are innumerable and are scattered about South Taranaki. The pa is filled, with them. Some are blood relatives and some are adopted, but they all owe allegiance to him in their upbringing. The pa lies close to the railway, with Tutenga’s house on a rise overlooking it. The Maoris there eat in a communal dining room and the 25 adults are scattered through the half-dozen or so houses built round a rectangular marae. Little Maori boys, with torn coats or trousers, but completely happy, squirm bare feet into the mud and chatter briskly while the rain falls on their close-cropped heads. They flash their teeth in frequent smiles and talk English with an intonation and a softness oven the English could not imitate. In front of Tutenga’s home stands a gaunt tree trunk, used as a flag pole for historic occasions such as the death of a person like Tutenga. But it was not used lor. him. The rope had broken and none there was to repair it. So Tutenga went to his grave unhonoured by the flag of the country he had perforce to bow allegiance to. ..The little boys are still chattering and still ’unconscious of the shadow across the pa. On the verandah of the meeting house a youth lazily whittles a stick. A middle-aged woman, carrying her baby in the traditional style, speaks querulously to him. Precociously he whittles on. Though the roads are muddy the fields are emerald green. The rain falls. And Tutenga, the cares of existence departed, sleeps. His spirit has already flown from Te Reinga, and he, communes now with the warriors he knew, and maybe he lives again, like the warriors of Valhalla, . “the old,. unhappy, far-off things and battles long ago.” assistance. WRESTLING AT HAWERA. BOUT ARRANGED FOR NOVEMBER. Although the wrestlers have not been decided, the Hawera Wrestling Association has made definite arrangements to stage a bout at the Opera House on show night, November 21. It is likely that Earl McCready, the famous Canadian, will be matched with either Ole Andresen, the Swedish-American contortionist, or Lofty Blomfield, New Zealand’s star, who is making a name for himself as one of the finest wrestlers in the Dominion to-day. A definite reply to the association’s advances is expected within the next few days. ADVERTISERS’ ANNOUNCEMENTS. Owing to the sudden indisposition of Mr. H. G. Dickie, M.P. (National candidate), the meetings to be held at Maxwell, Patea and Waitotara are cancelled until further notice. The catalogue for the 4 * Waver ley sale and Aberdeen Angus bull fair which is to be held to-morrow, November 1, comprises 500 head of station cattle. The cattle which are being sold on account of the B. C. Lysaght estate, will be disposed of without reserve. Further particulars are advertised by the Farmers’ Co-op. in this issue. Smith and Trim Ltd. advertise particulars of their mart sale for to-day commencing at 1.30 p.m., when they will sell poultry, potatoes, Wizard separator, small electric cooker and a good assortment of furniture, also vegetables, etc.