THE LATE TE HAPUKU.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 140, 11 June 1878, Page 4

THE LATE TE HAPUKU.

"Te Hanuku Njjaruhe Te Ika-nui O Te Moana," who paaspd away from this life fhe other dav at Te Aufe, Hawke's Bay, appears ts have bepu nn admirable specimen of " the fine old Maori erpntleman — one of tbe olden time.*" Te Wananga tells the story of the life and deMh of the grand old chief in n very •graphic and interesting way. Of course the narrative being especially intended fo be read by lhe natives, is •somewhat quaint nnd studiously simple in Btyle, rather after the fashion of a nursery fale, buf for all thnt it is well loid, and possesses a certain sort of charm of its own. It occupies several columns of Te Wananga, and we can give ife chief points in briefer space. According to our contemporary, Te Hanuku had strong muscles and an iron will, nnd could bear to be dictated fo. Consequently, when people quarrelled with him, ho very often paoificated matters by thrashing his opponents wilh his own hands, but he always afterwards, on cooling down, made ample reparation. Then he wns hospitable, even lo a fault, good tempered end penial in his milder moods, and full of a rich fund of anecdote. He, however, when desirous of obtaining anything from the European people of Ahuriri, was fond of putting on an air of savage authority, so as to make them think he was a very dreadful fellow, with whose demands it would be well to comply, wbile at the bottom of his heart be entertained the intention of paying the beat price for the coveted article. The old chief used to tell with great glee a story illustrative of this. A European came to reside near the Ahuriri river, wbo was the nappy possessor of five large blankets of super-excellent quality. Hapuku coveted these blankets, nnd paid a visit, to the sel tier, but could not get tbem. So Hapuku, with four other young chiefs, went a second time with a horsepietol in his hand, early one morqio'g rushed up to the but in wbich ithe stranger lived, nfid wiih a defiant warcry fired his pistol off, rushed intojthe European's hat, and, taking bold ofjthe blankets, gave them to hia four companions and went away. In the evening of the sa me day Hapuku took fifteen pigs to the hut of the European and, with a laugh said, "There is f lhe payment for tbe five blankets I took from you. I knew, that you would not sell them, and I would have them, knd for payment for my act I give you this lot of pigs." For years the European in question wns the best of friends with the old chief. Te Hapuku, it appears, in the good old times, acted as a sort of dictator to bis people in all their acta of barter with the Europeans who came in small vessels to trade wiih the Hawke's Bay natives. Another trait in his character was his being addicted to the use of Maori curses, but a European Government officer, whom he treated to a few of these curses, retaliated in tbe following fashion : — He took a line and hung it over tbe stern of the vessel and caught a fish, and cocked the fiah, and then took it ond lay on the bed of Te Hopuku, and while lying ihere ate a part of the 69b. Thie was a superlative curse ou Te Hapuku, but after a great rage on his part, of wliich the Government officer did not take the least heed, Hapuku shook hands, and promised never to call that officer names again, and to the day ofbi6 death he had the greatest feeiing of respect for the officer in question. Hapuku entertained a great respect for her Majesty the Queen of England, and when he was told that the railway Napier to Waipukurau was v the road; of the Queen," he withdrew all biß opposition to it. He had' seen fighting in his time, and was taken prisoner by an attacking force in 1824, but was afterwards released. The old rangatira appears to have possessed a certain fdbd of humor. Having in late years been the subject of rheumatic pains, on the birth of a grand-daughter lie ordered the child to be called " Rheumatism." Te Hapuku could also be Barcastic. One matter above all others in regard to Europeans was a point for feis wit to expend his sharpest sneer on, and thie was the easy mode by which (as he said) money oan make a gentleman with the Europeans, and the want of it sinks a man of" good heart and cultivated mind into tbe ranks of the tutua (unknown). As he often stated, a Maori chief is a chief by birth, and he does not need the external world to bolster hira up j his bones are red, which is the birthright of all chiefs, bufc the European has only the red gold in his pocket, which does duty for red bones to give him the right to be of noble birth and to have the power to command. In this quaint fashion does Te Wananga, the Maori newspapes, dilate upon the life and charaeterestics of Te Hapuku. He appears to have ever been the friend of the Europeans, and to have earned the staunch goodwill of many of them. With the death of old Hapuku passes away nearly the last of those old chiefs who have seen \ Maori life in all its savage Vigour. Let us tbink kindly of the departed old chief, who in his day and generation was indeed a man of mark among his people. — JPosi.