ROPIHA MOTUROA.

Waka Maori, Volume 10, Issue 26, 29 December 1874, Page 324

ROPIHA MOTUROA.

(Communicated by his relatives.) Ropiha Moturoa, who died in Wellington on the 11th of December instant, was a very aged man—probably one hundred years old. He belonged to the Matehou liapu of Ngatiawa. He was the last of the old men of this people, Ngatiawa, who reside in Port Nicholson. His elder brothers (probably cousins) all died long since—namely, Te Puni, Wharepouri, and others, all of whom died in Port Nicholson. When living at Taranaki these old men were_ always kindly disposed towards other tribes of the island, that is to say, towards Ngapuhi, Ngatiwatua, Ngatipaoa, and Waikato. Let not any man suppose that they were implicated in the attack on the tribes at Eaihipoaka, Pukerangiora; on the contrary, it was they who saved them. And when they came to Port Nicholson the Ngatikahungunu tribe was brought back by Wharepouri from Nukutaurua, Mania peninsula, to their home at Wairarapa. It was about the year 1835 that these old men migrated from Taranaki and came to live in Port Nicholson, where they continued to reside down to the advent of the Pakeha in 1840. Then they entered into friendly alliance with the Pakeha, and with the Maori tribes also, and adopted a policy of peace and love and kindness towards all men. When hostilities broke out between the Pakehas and the Eangihaeata, in the year 1845, they allied themselves to the Pakeha, and took part in that strife. Eopiha Moturoa himself was engaged in active service against the Eangihaeata. He also, with other old chiefs of Port Nicholson, took part in the fighting of the Pakehas against the upper Whanganui natives, namely, Te Mamaku and Ngatimaniapoto, in the year 1846. " The memory of the just is blessed; but the name of the wicked shall rot."