Page 191 - Puhipi

Te Aitanga a Tumoana

Mary's Cathedral, Parnell, Auckland. He was to be based at Waiparera, his home parish, and his
stipend rose from £50 to £60 annually. In 1903 he acted as bishop's chaplain at the consecration of
the new bishop of Auckland, Dr M. R. Neligan, at St Mary's Cathedral. Papahia was appointed
assistant superintendent of the Maori mission under Archdeacon H. A. Hawkins in 1905. Around
this time stipends of the Maori clergy rose to £70 per annum.

Papahia and Hawkins travelled to the Melanesian islands in 1907, to examine the feasibility of
Maori clergy becoming teachers for the Melanesian mission. Papahia was the second known Maori
clergyman to visit Melanesia, after Henare Wiremu Taratoa, who accompanied Bishop G. A.
Selwyn in 1852. The two missionaries recommended that the Reef Islets in the New Hebrides
(Vanuatu) be established as the base for future Maori missions, after deciding that the islands met
adequate standards of health, food, language and 'friendliness'. A permanent Maori mission was
never established, but Maori clergy have continued to visit the islands.

At the invitation of the bishop of Christchurch, Churchill Julius, in December 1911, Papahia
conducted a mission among the Maori people of the Christchurch diocese. Details of his
movements are not known, although it is reported that his visit proved to be very productive. On
his return to Waiparera, Papahia became ill; he died on 9 February 1912 and was buried on 14
February. Many tributes extolling his life's work in the church began to appear. St Barnabas'
Church at Peria, Northland, was dedicated to his memory, as were memorial stones at Te Kao and
Gisborne. In 1914 a stained glass window dedicated to his memory was placed in St Mary's
Cathedral, Auckland. Standing just inside the gateway to the Ripeka Tapu Church and cemetery at
Waiparera is an imposing four-metre-tall monument, comprising an obelisk of brown-flecked
marble supporting a white marble angel. The east-facing side contains Papahia's epitaph, the north
depicts his church career. Papahia's epitaph, in poetic Maori, eulogises his standing as spiritual
leader and churchman in his own Maori community. Bishop Cowie wrote of Papahia in 1892: 'He
is most humble, is a man of stainless life and of entire devotion to his calling.'
Hone marena Apikaira Moetara [1247] [MRIN: 565].

Na Tamaiti o te Marena:
+ 330 F i. Miriama [625].

11
12
13
10
185. Re Te Tai [10483] (Nganiho Papahia Te Tai , Ngakahuwhero , Kahi , TARUTARU ,
8
3
6
7
4
9
5
TeUruKauri , Tumaingarua , Taranga , Toakai , Patito , Houpure , Tamamoko , Tamahotu
2 1
, TUMOANA ).
Re marena Hana Taylor Tera [10484] [MRIN: 3474].
Na Tamaiti o te Marena:
331 F i. Meri Te Tai [10485] was born on 22 May 1868 in Panguru, died on
10 Oct 1920 at age 52, and was buried in Pureirei Urupa, Lower
Waihou.
Rapunga Kupu Akoako: (korero taken from "Encyclopedia of
NZ") Meri Te Tai: was well educated. She is said to have
studied at St Mary's Convent in Auckland, and was an
accomplished pianist. In the late 1880s or early 1890s she became
the third wife of Hamiora Mangakahia, of Ngati Whanaunga and
other Coromandel hapu. He was an assessor in the Native Land Meri Te Tai
Court, and was working at Waimate North in 1887. He was also at
the Bay of Islands in 1889, attending the meeting at which Te
Kotahitanga, the Maori parliament movement, was formally initiated, he was elected
premier of the Kotahitanga parliament in June 1892.
In 1893 both he and Meri attended the second session of the parliament at Waipatu in
Hawke's Bay. The women's suffrage movement had been gaining strength from the
1880s, and it is likely that Meri had knowledge of this. She may, like many Maori
women, have come into contact with the New Zealand Women's Christian Temperance
Union, which campaigned for women's suffrage. On 18 May 1893 the Speaker of the
lower house of the Kotahitanga parliament introduced a motion from Meri Mangakahia,
requesting that women be given the right to participate in the selection of members. It
was suggested that she come into the house to explain her motion, and later that day she