A Great Maori Chief.
TamatiNgaporoWahanui, whose death was announced in yesterday's issue, belonged to the Ngatiuianiapoto trib« and was educated by the missionaries. He went to Germany, in company with another native, with the Hockstetter expedition in 1858. For many years he was Prime Minister to King Tawhiao. After the Kihg had submitted to the authorities Wahanui desired to lay before the New Zealand Parliament a statement of Maori grievances, and in the end obtained permission to be heard at the Bar of the House, his speech being remarkably eloquent and able. Wahanui was afterwards offered a seat in the Legislative Council, but declined it on the ground that it would minimise his Mnori chieftainship and injure him in the eyes of his people. He severed himself from the king party about 1884, and became the leader of the Waikatos. He was a born diplomatist and orator, but never a righting man. He weighed at one time 20 stone. The deceased chief had a magnificent presence and lofty and commanding bearing. He was very influential for a long time, and had a large following, but faded out of Maori history of more recent years. He suffered from a wasting disease which reducsd him to a skeleton before his death.
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Bibliographic details
Feilding Star, Volume XIX, Issue 136, 8 December 1897, Page 3
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209A Great Maori Chief. Feilding Star, Volume XIX, Issue 136, 8 December 1897, Page 3
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