A MAORI'S SUICIDE.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 July 1917, Page 3

A MAORI'S SUICIDE.

TRAGEDY AT PUKEARUHE. A Maori named Moa Matene, aged 30 and a married man, committed suicide at iPukearuhe on Wednesday night, by blowing his brains out with a shot gun. It appears that Matene and his wife attended a dance at Urenui on the night mentioned, and during its progress he left the hall in which it was being held, telling his wife that he would soon return. He did not come however, and a search for him in the vicinity after the dance broke up proved futile. Mrs. Matene then returned to her home at Pukearuhe, accompanied by her friends. On entering her dwelling house she at first saw nothing of her husband,-hut on going into a spare room she found his dead body lying on the floor, the head shattered, and a recently-discharged shotgun lying alongside. The deceased was a man of morose habits, had been worried over domestic matters, and was generally considered to bo mentally weak. An inquest was fixed for yesterday before a Justice of the Pence, acting,on behalf of the coroner, and a jury.