Mr Teone Wiwi Taiaroa

Te Ao Hou, March 1965, Page 63

Mr Teone Wiwi Taiaroa On 29th December, the Ngaitahu people lost one of their best known personalities, when Mr T. W. (Wiwi) Taiaroa died at Otakou on the Otago Peninsula. He was aged 62. Mr Taiaroa, who was born at Otakou, was a son of the late George Taiaroa and his wife Margaret (nee Parata) and a grandson of the Hon. H. K. Taiaroa and the Hon. Tame Parata, both South Island Maori Members of Parliament and Members of the Legislative Council. Apart from some years spent in Canterbury, Mr Taiaroa spent most of his life on the Peninsula as a commercial fisherman and a sheepfarmer. One of the founders and directors of Otakou Fisheries, Ltd., and for a time the Chairman of its Board of Directors, he fished for a number of years around the Otago and Southland coasts. In addition he managed the family property, Akapatiki ‘A’ Block, Incorporated. Mr Taiaroa took an active interest in community affairs, being for many years a member of the Otakou Maori Committee, and in addition representing the Otago Heads Riding on the

Peninsula County Council. He was also active in Masonic affairs. In his youth he was a well known Rugby player, being often included in southern Maori representative teams. Always a lover of horses, Mr Taiaroa in his time raced a number of horses, the best known perhaps being Royal China and Pudechan. He was also, in his younger years, well known as a show rider and trainer of show horses, being the original owner and trainer of (among others) the very successful jumper, Viking. Mr Taiaroa's funeral, which took place at Otakou on New Year's Day, was attended by several hundred mourners, not only from all parts of the South Island but from the North Island as well. Mr Taiaroa leaves a widow. Raukawa (nee Ellison), four sons, two daughters and eight grandchildren.