Mrs W. T. Ngata

Te Ao Hou, March 1965, Page 63

Mrs W. T. Ngata Mrs Nancy Maraea (Peach) Ngata, wife of Mr William T. (Bill) Ngata, private secretary to the Minister of Maori Affairs, died last November, after a long illness, at the Home of Compassion, Island Bay. Mrs Ngata had a distinguished career as a stenographer to successive Ministers of Maori Affairs, including the late Mr Peter Fraser. She was also secretary to Mr J. K. Hunn when he was Secretary for Maori Affairs. Mrs Ngata was a member of a prominent family of the Ngati Raukawa tribe of Otaki. She was the eldest daughter of the late Tiemi and Bridget Rikihana. Her first husband, Mr Ehae John (Ben) Ropata was killed at El Alamein in the Second World War while serving with the Maori Battalion. Most of Mrs Ngata's interests concerned Maori welfare, for which she had a deep concern. As a pianist she was much in demand for various Maori social functions. She was a member of the N.Z. Art Gallery Society and a former Wellington executive member of the Consumer Council. A large number of Mr and Mrs Ngata's friends and relatives from Wellington, Otaki, Levin, Gisborne, Rotorua and Bay of Plenty districts attended the funeral. Mr Ngata is a son of the late Sir Apirana Ngata. Mrs Ngata is survived by her husband, a son, two sisters, a brother and a niece, who formerly lived with her.