THE NEW ACTING BRITISH CONSUL FOR SAMOA

New Zealand Graphic, 1 July 1899, Page 17

THE NEW ACTING BRITISH CONSUL FOR SAMOA

A XEW ZEALANDER APPOINTED. It is certainly a distinction of which New Zealand may be proud that the Home Government should have asked this colony to supply a British Consul for Samoa, especially at a time like the present, and it argues much for the reputation Major Mair enjoys here that he should have been chosen for the post. The Major, of whom we give a portrait, has been long- and honourably connected with New Zealand. The son of an old colonist, his whole life has been spent in the colony and interwoven with its history. His knowledge of Maori secured for him in the early days the appointment of interpreter to General Cameron’s staff, and he served with distinction through the Maori War. At the

end of the Waikato campaign the Major was appointed Native Resident Magistrate, and was located some time at Taupo. • When the war broke out on the East Coast, Mair was gazetted a major in the New Zealand Militia, and entrusted with the command of the Arawas. After this he was constantly in action, and did good service to the State. Years after he was mainly instrumental in bringing in the Maori King. Major Mair has been under fire upon more than thirty different occasions, and took an active part in the following engagements:—Paterangi, Rangiaohia, Haerini, and Orakau, in Waikato campaign; Ta Awa-a-te-Atua. Te Teko, and Whakatane, in East Coast campaign: Te Ake Ake and Whakamarama. in Tauranga campaign: Waimana, Omaruteangi, Hukanui, Ruatahuna, and Tatahuata, in the Uriwera campaign. Yet he never received any special reward for his military services. In fact, it may be said that amongst the leading spirits of the war, he and his brother. Captain Gilbert Mair, are the only officers who did not get a portion of the confiscated lands they had fought so hard to obtain for the colony. Major Mair became a judge of Native Lands Court in 1882, and still holds that office. In 1886 he adjudicated upon the whole of the lands comprised in the King Country, the parties concerned having such confidence in him that they came forward to establish their conflicting claims.