OBITUARY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 05, Issue 85, 31 July 1942, Page 5

OBITUARY

MRS MIRIA PATARA MERRITT 1 Nearly a hundred years ago, in 1544 a little girl was born in the small Maori coastal village which: was then Whakatane. This infant was destined to become Mrs Miria Patara Merritt Avhose deah occurred early yesterday morning and whose long and lull life stretched from the early Victorian period, through the troublous Maori Avars, Te Kooti's exploits, Tarawera's eruption, the Crimean, Boer and the Great War down to modern times. The fishing village in which she was. horn, she lived to see become a thriving modern town. Stage by stage she noted the -steady transition from mud tracks to surveyed roads, from horsedrawn vehicles to motor cars. And finally she lived to see aeroplanes float above the sacred rock of Pohaturoa Avherein in her t girlhood, she had seen the Tohunga performing his rites. The late Mrs Merrit Avas of proud and ancient lineage, being able to trace her ancestry in a direct line to the famous navigator Toroa, who captained the celebrated Matatua canoe from HaAvaiki some 600 years ago. Some nineteen generations seperate her from her heroic ancestor but they may be traced to Tohi by direct descent, to Waiopotango, to Toihau, to Patara Toihau, Avho was her oAvn father. This blood connection with the Matatua patriaclx gave her the distinction of being the titular head oi the local Ngtttiawa tribe an honour AA'hieh Avas only den|ed her on account of her sex. As a young woman she obtained her education at a convent in Gisborne Avhere her people sent her for a short period. She married the late Joseph Merritt Avho came from a Waikato tribe and Avas also of a chieftain's rank, being related to the Princess Te Puea. He had come* to the Bay of Plenty at the Same period of its occupation by the military. The late Mrs Merritt had vivid memories of the redoubts on Hill-, crest erected in 1850-60, and was In the habit of saying that the only paltehas the Maoris saAV Avere ' those in the armed forces. She saw Whitmore's ill-fated column set oflf into the never-neA*er of Avhat Avas then Galatea and Avas fond of re-t calling the period of terror Avhen Te Kooti pillaged and burned the toAvn. With her people, shelled to the shelter of Hillcrest and hid in the groves of cherry trees Avhicli they themselves had planted some, years earlier. With her husband she opened the iirst store and hotel in Whakatane, holding the license for many years. Reminiscences of the TaraAvera Eruption Avere often on her lips in late years and she could tell many a A ivid tale of the terror A\ T hlch the phenomenon struck into the hearts of the village of Maoris and, halfcastes by the Whakatane estuary. One of the most picturesque events in the young settlement Avas election day Avhich was alAvavs celebrated in the Domain and always con- 1 eluded Avith a tremendous "huiln 1910 her husband died and Mrs Merritt Avho oAvned considerable property? retired to one of her several farms. She enjoj'cd Avonderful health and was rcp.ui.ed in her younger days

to be as'strong as a man. Kven in her extreme old age she insisted .inworking outside in the garden. At the time' of her death she had scar-

cely a grey hair. ; She is survived by live of eight children, Mr Jim Merrill (Ruatoki), " , Mrs C. AV. Harris (Auckland), Mrs -J. Mitchell (Taihape), Mrs J. Whenuaroa (Taihape), and Mrs O. Winter (Tc Puea Springs). Three others Messrs Gilbert and Ted Merritt ami , Mrs ChadwLck predeceased her. There are 22 grandchildren and many great grandchildren. Representatives of all the East Coast tribes have gathered for the tangi which is now taking place at W'airaka Pa. -