American Citizenship
p. 11 · Read in the full issue
For Te Rangi Hiroa?
IT is reported from New Zealand that Sir Peter Buck (Te Rangi Hiroa) is seeking American citizenship.
This has caused some surpise in the Dominion, where Sir Peter is credited with having said: “I was born a Maori and a British subject and shall die as such.” He received his knighthood in the 1946 Birthday Honours.
He has been working with the Ameri cans since 1927 and has, for a number of years, been Director of the Bishop Museum in Honolulu.
Although he is now an international figure and has not taken any active part in New Zealand affairs for many years, he is still regarded by the Maoris as one of their leaders.
He was born in Urenui, NZ, 68 years ago, of a Maori mother and an Irish father. He qualified as a medical man and between 1909 and 1914 entered the New Zealand Parliament as Maori MP.
He served in the Maori Battalion in World War I, and won the DSO. After his return to the Dominion he became increasingly absorbed in Polynesian ethnology.
It was argued that, because of his Polynesian ancestry, he was not eligible for American citizenship. It is reported that to overcome this a special bill was recently introduced in Congress by Mr.
Joseph R. Farrington, the Congressman representing Hawaii, and that the matter has now been referred to the Senate Im migration Committee.