NORTHERN MAORI ELECTION CONTEST.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 462, 22 March 1909, Page 5

NORTHERN MAORI ELECTION CONTEST.

DR. BUCK-AN APPRECIATION.

(By "Acquaintance.") _ Dr. Peter H. Buck—Te Rangihiroa. By these names alternatively is known the young officer of tho Health Department who appears likely to carry off tho Northern Maori election, and thoro is significance in the double name. It seems probable that Dr. Buck, who is 30 years of ago and popular among both races, does not know himself whether he is more a Maori or a pakeha, he is capable of being each so thoroughly. His father .was Mr. W. H. Buck, who fought at Orakan, famous for Rewi's reputed challenge, and his mother a chieftaincss of the Taranaki tribe. Dr. Peter Buck is a grave and dignified M B , Ch.B., of Otago University, and was four years ago house surgeon of the Dunedm Hospital, but To Rangihiroa is a Maori of tho Maoris, serious in debate, but a joyous, leaping child of nature, when he leads a band of Natives in the haka. Belonging to both races, he is ablo in a rare degree to appreciate tho advantages of each. During tho recent Christchurch Exhibition, Dr. Buck, as resident health officer, was responsible for the health of the changing occupants of the Maori pa, and reduced those responsibilities to a minimum by keeping his charges in a state of happy activity" which gave them no timo for sickness. Ho was tho life of tho pa, organising dances, defences, and attacks, and leading them himself, stripped to the buff, cavorting liko a war horse, grimacing liko a Maori of the olden time, and enjoying the performance like a European gentleman of the modern timo, delightfully conscious of the contrasts of Ins position. Yet whilo he enjoys its relaxations, Dr. Buck is keenly solicitous for the serious welfare of his mother's race. Ho is an earnest member of tho Te Auto Association, and took a leading part in the deliberations of tho recent Maori Congress, besides lecturing on Maori origins to tho members of the Y.M.C.A. Since 1906 Dr. Buck has been a Native Health Officer under tho Health Department, and ho is responsible for the northern half of this island. If he is elected as a member of Parliament, a protest will probably bo lodged on tho ground that ho is a member of tho Civil Service, but under the Legislature Act it appears doubtful whether the two positions cannot bo hold at once in tho case of a Maori electorate. Dr. Buck is married to n daughter of Mr. a! Wilson of Milton, Otago. His election to Parliamentary honours would bo popular with a great number both of Maoris nnd Europeans, who would call him, with much truthfulness, "a crent boy," while many of them credit him with being much moro than that.

—4 DR. BUCK LEADING. Tho electoral #officer for the Northern Maori Division vacant through tho death t 'Zi r, i ?, ne Hcke ' notif)CS tllat results .or 67 booths are now in, and that tho final results will be known to-day. Tho figures so far aro as follow:— Rangihiroa ... 2,152 Kaka Porowini " 296 Hercpoti \ m Hone Hapa inn Hi .kaitaia „ 173 .Hirni Hare \" 93 Riri Maihi ',"/ 74 Flavell " 52 Reihana Netana ... '" 25 Rangihiroa' (Dr. Buck) is employed in tho Public Health Department.