MAORI WOMAN PASSES AT 104

Shannon News, 20 November 1928, Page 4

MAORI WOMAN PASSES AT 104

RECOLLECTION OP PRE-PAKEH4 DAYS.

A link with days long before the first Maori wars, a relative of the ■Maori "King” Tawhaio. and for long a highly respected resident of the Waipa Valley, Mrs. H. H. Reynolds died at her home, Kaipiha, Pirongia, last Thursday at the age' of 104. Her father was Mr. Payne, and her native name was® Mihi Nepeno (Maori for Payne). Her mother was a native, and after the death of Mr. Payne married Mr. Turner, whose descendants are well known in the Waipa Valley district.

■ Mrs. Reynolds ’ age was reckoned from the date of a famous tribal battle believed to be Pukcrangiora. She was a very intelligent and interesting personality, and could relate the causes of the Maori wars and describe the peaceful settlements in the Waipa Valley years before the coming of war. In those days wheat was cultivated by the Maoris, and there were little mills b ythe riversides, where the. wheat' was ground between two flat stones into flour. Goats were milked, and the Maoris were busy farmers. War came and spoiled their simple civilisation. The goats became wild and roamed on the sides of bush-ciad Pirongia Mountain. One flour-mill was carried on—at the stream by the Tc Tahi Road, about four miles from the busy township of Alexandra, now Pirongia, a shadow of its former self. Mrs. Reynolds was a close friend of the late Captain Gilbert Mair. When war broke out her brothers joined in, the older half-brothers fighting with the pakohas and the younger with the Maoris, while the youngest. Peter, then a boy of nine or 10 years, was too young to enlist. He can remember the eating of white captives by the Maoris. Mrs. Reynolds was very skilled in the native methods, of healing with herbs, as more than one pakehu remembers'with gratitude. Her home, where she lived with a daughter, was set iu the midst of a large orchard on the banks of the Waipa' River, arid there Mrs. Reynolds kept a good garden, working in it herself until her eyesight failed five or six years ago. Mr. Reynolds died about 35 years ago. He was at one time a member of the Waikato Militia and later a journalist. A son, Mr. Charles Reynolds, was kilted in the Great War, shortly before the Arriiistice. Mrs. Reynolds is survived by six daughters, including Miss E.' Reynolds, of Kaipiha; Mrs. W. Reteineyer, of Pirongia; and Mrs. De Thierry, of Eangiriri. Tiio funeral took place on Saturday at the little tribal cemetery on the hill near her home. The service was conducted by the Rev. Eric H. Atkey, Anglican curate at Te Awamutu, assisted by a native minister.