EARLY MAORI DAYS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 299, 17 December 1937, Page 2

EARLY MAORI DAYS

ON THE WANGANUI RIVER DEATH OF PUTIKI RESIDENT The death of Mrs. William McDonnell, of Wikitoria Road, Putiki, last week at the age of 87 years, calls to memory the early days on the Wanganui River when the Maori population was much greater than it is today. The late Mrs. McDonnell was born at Kauaeroa, a settlement some 47 miles up the river. She belonged to the Ngatirangi and Ngatiruaka tribes and was the daughter of Kereti Te Hiwitahi, who fell in defence of Wanganui at the Battle of Moutoa in 1864. The deceased remembered well the days when Kauaeroa was a flourishing little settlement, being in the early days the most important Roman Catholic Mission on the river, with Rev. Father Lampila the priest in charge. The people were industrious and cultivated large areas of land at Waitohinga, Te Rekereke, and Pukehinau, near the present Morikau homestead. Near the river was a flour mill and' a warm mineral spring known as Mangapuia was frequented by the people. The Maoris also had their favourite eel weirs and pa piharau, known as Kaitara. In the early days when travellers on the river wearied of the slow progress and the arduous work of poling their canoes up-stream, they were always overjoyed when they caught sight of the white spire and gilded cross of the pretty little church at Kauaeroa. The orchard planted in the mission by Father Lampila still

ermains to mark the place where he spent so many years of self-sacrifice among the Maori people. The pa itself is now deserted and little remains to remind the visitor of the busy scenes that were enacted there in the early days. The church and other buildings were all destroyed by the Hauhaus when they advanced towards Wanganui, but were repulsed at Moutoa. The late Mrs. McDonnell was reared by Nikorima Te Ahuru, one of the signatories to .he Wanganui Block Deed in 1848. Her father, Kereti Te Hiwitahi, was a Maori magistrate and a person friend of Mr. John White, resident magistrate in Wanganui from 1862 to 1565. The deceased lady was of a quiet and retiring, nature, and was loved i by all who knew her. She leaves one son, Mr. Peter McDonnell, of Karioi, and three daughters, Mrs. Heni Scott, Mrs. Ani Katene, of Putiki, and Mrs. Stephens, of Tangiwai. There are i many grandchildren.