WANGANUI MAORI, BELIEVED TO BE 106, DIED YESTERDAY

Wanganui Chronicle, 21 January 1947, Page 4

WANGANUI MAORI, BELIEVED TO BE 106, DIED YESTERDAY

MR. TAMEHANA KOHITI Believed to have been born in the year that the Treaty of Waitangi was signed (1840), Mr. Tamehana Kohiti died at his residence at yesterday. Born in a settlement up the Wanganui River (or, as it was then known, the Knowsley River), at about the time the first white settlers were coming here, and just a few short years after this district had in ar.y way been, investigated. Mr. Kohiti lived through those adventurous years of Wanganui’s struggling beginning, the Maori Wars, and this city’s growth to its present imminence, and as up until the last few months he had a perfect retentive memory, many and vivid were the recollections he could tell.

The early part of his life was lived near the Wanganui River, but after his marriage he removed to Kauangaroa some 37 years ago, and where he has since resided.

A very active man, he had a reputation as an outstanding shearer in his younger days, and it is probably because of his industrious outdoor life that he had the stamina to live to the venerable age he did. Up till about six months ago he retained remarkable health for a man of his years, and was in full possession of all his faculties, and was highly respected for his sage advice to the younger generations. His wife, Ngahuihui Kohiti, predeceased him several years ago. They had no family of their own, but adopted two children, Mr. Rang! Kohiti, Wangaehu, and Mrs. Moura Rata, of Kauangaroa. He was widely known and liked, and for his tangi it is expected that at least 20U people from the tribes of Wanganui and Taranaki will visit Kauangaroa. The burial will take place to-morrow.