MAORI ELDER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 July 1938, Page 8

MAORI ELDER

DEATH OF TONIHI RIHIRI. LOYAL AND ACTIVE LEADER. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) ROTORUA, July 8. One of the two remaining elders of the Tuhourangi tribe, Tonihi Rihiri, aged 78, died yesterday morning, and the tangi, which will take place 'at Whakarewarewa during the next few days, will be probably the largest held in the Rotorua district for many years. A large influx of Maoris from all parts of the North Island is expected to arrive in Rotorua to pay the last respects of their. various tribes to the memory of the Arawa chief; King Koroki and Princess Te Puea will be among those present. For the arrival of King Koroki, as well as for other important representatives, much of the older traditions of the Maori, including the challenge by a bodyguard of Tuhourangi warriors, will be revived. Tonihi Rihiri was' the son of Rihiri Heretaunga, of the Ngati-wahiao clan of the Tuhourangi tribe, and it is in the Wahaio meeting-house, which was erected as a memorial to his ancestors, that his remains will lie while his people pay their final respects. His father was one of the loyal Arawas who fought on the side of the Imperial forces during the Maori wars of the ’sixties, and subsequently became the leader of his people upon the deaths of the rangipuwhes. Like his father, Tonihi Rihiri had always been a loyal supporter of the British Constitution, and upon the death of his uncle, Mita Taupopoki, he became the foremost elder of the tribe. By virtue of his position he had during the last few years been particularly prominent in all matters concerning his people, while he had also taken a prominent part in all important welcomes and functions held by the Tuhourangi tribe. His cousin, Te Hatu Pirihi, will now take his place as the surviving elder of the tribe.