Te Tokanganui-a-Noho, one of the oldest meeting houses in the country, has been reopened following the completion of a major restoration project at Te Kūiti Pā under the guidance of Dean Whiting and Jim Schuster.
Over the years, a number of notable kaumātua, including Dr Pei Te Hurinui Jones, have been associated with this famous Ngāti Maniapoto marae.
Dr. Pei Te Hurinui Jones O.B.E. J.P. D.HONS (9 September 1898 – 7 May 1976) was a Ngāti Maniapoto rangatira, advisor to the Kīngitanga, interpreter, land officer, writer, translator, whakapapa expert, champion tennis player, rugby player and National Party candidate.
Scenes at Hui Tōpū, the first all Aoteoroa Anglican Māori hui, taken in May 1962. (Photo: Ans Westra).
I A IA E RIRIKI ANA - EARLY YEARS
Pei Te Hurinui Jones was the son of Daniel Lewis, a European storekeeper, and Paretekorae Poutama of Ngāti Maniapoto.
He was born on 9 September 1898 at Harataunga (Kennedys Bay) on the eastern coast of the Coromandel Peninsula. Te Hurinui was adopted as a baby by his mother's grand-uncle, Te Hurinui Te Wano, and the years spent in this household had a profound effect on him.
A sickly child, troubled by dreams that came to be considered portents of death in the tribe, Te Hurinui underwent ancient rituals. Besides putting an end to the troublesome dreams, these confirmed a commitment to his traditional Māori heritage.
He was present at many tribal gatherings- including at Te Tokanganui-a-Noho- as well as conferences of elders and functions in many parts of the country. Years later, Te Hurinui's mother married David Jones, a farmer of Ngāpuhi descent, and the children took their stepfather's surname.
Te Hurinui's formal schooling had been irregular, although he attended Ōngārue Primary School between Te Kūiti and Taumarunui. In 1913 he was enrolled at Wesley College, Three Kings, Auckland. After leaving Wesley, Pei had no further formal education despite being remembered today as a noted scholar.
KĪNGITANGA
At the opening of the Raukawa meeting house in Ōtaki to the right of Pei Te Hurinui Jones is Kingi Korokī, and in front of the king is his wife Te Atairangikaahu with her hands together. (Photo: Alexander Turnbull Library).
As early as 1922 Te Hurinui had observed Te Puea Herangi's efforts to improve the Kīngitanga's fortunes and for much of the rest of his life his knowledge of both languages and his ability to move freely between Māori and Pākehā cultures was devoted in service of the movement.
He became an adviser to Te Puea, to King Korokī, and then to Korokī's daughter and successor, Te Arikinui Te Atairangikaahu.
TE AO TŌRANGAPŪ - POLITICS
Pei Te Hurinui Jones, National Party candidate circa 1957 (Photo: Alexander Turnbull Library).
Te Hurinui stood for parliament as an independent candidate in 1930. Initial assurances of support from Ratana were not fulfilled when Haami Tokouru Ratana also stood.
His intervention split the vote and led to Te Taite Te Tomo winning the seat.
Te Hurinui also stood unsuccessfully in 1938 and 1943, and was defeated by Matiu Ratana in a by-election in 1945.
He stood as a New Zealand National Party candidate in 1957, 1960 and 1963.HE TĒNEHI , HE WHUTUPAORO - SPORTSTe Hurinui and his brother Michael Rotohiko Jones where winners at the 1927 New Zealand Māori Tennis Tournament in Wanganui. (Photo: Alexander Turnbull Library).
Te Hurinui's slight, scholarly appearance of later years was misleading. In his youth, he had played rugby for the King Country and Whanganui, and he was New Zealand Māori men's tennis champion from 1924 to 1928.
KO ĀNA TUHINGA - BOOKS
Te Hurinui's first and main interest was in the recording of Tainui genealogies and traditions. He wrote many booklets issued to commemorate the opening of meeting houses in the Tainui and Ngāti Tūwharetoa areas.
Of his approach to informants, Te Hurinui said, "I always took great care to choose a time and place when an elder and I were at rest with the world, and then almost casually ask a brief question to elicit some point of history."
A Māori-language version of the history of the Tainui tribes, from the building of the canoe and the crossing to New Zealand until the early years of the nineteenth century was produced- the culmination of many years of research.
This was published posthumously in 1995 as Nga iwi o Tainui. Te Hurinui had written an English-language version of much of this material by about 1936. He lent the manuscript to Leslie Kelly, who had offered to make a typewritten copy, and was distressed when Kelly incorporated it in his book Tainui, published in 1949.
His translation of The Merchant of Venice was commended by Ngata, and he went on to translate Julius Caesar, Othello and Edward FitzGerald's The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám.
The knowledge Te Hurinui had for the Māori language led to his appointment to a committee to revise H. W. William's Māori dictionary and to the New Zealand Geographic Board.
After Ngata's death in 1950, Te Hurinui carried on the editing of the song collection, Ngā Mōteatea.
Ngata had translated just 20 of the 300 songs into English. Te Hurinui completed the task of translating and re-editing new editions of all three volumes.
Ngā Mōteatea was his most valuable contribution to Māori literature.
His most ambitious work in English was King Potatau, which could be regarded as a historical novel rather than a biography.
A similar blending of factual research and fiction is evident in his other English biographical pieces on Mahinarangi and on the poetess, Puhiwahine. These contrast with his Māori writing, which adhered closely to the oral traditions.
He died at Taumarunui on 7 May 1976, survived by his wife and three children from his first marriage. Te Hurinui is buried beside his matua atawhai (grand-uncle) Te Hurinui Te Wano in the cemetery at Te Tokanganui-a-Noho Marae.
His headstone at the urupā behind Te Tokanganui-a-Noho simply reads "Ko ana mahi ona tohu whakamaharatanga - His works are his memorial"
This story was shorted from the biography written by Bruce Biggs in 1998 for Dictionary of New Zealand Biography.