New King Crowned At
p. 43 · Read in the full issue
Mangaia Island
From Our Mangaia Correspondent WITH the formal coronation on June 21, in the presence of all the district Havana, chiefs and Council mem bers, of King Tangi-ariki, the successor of the late King Mateke Trego (an elder brother), the continuance of Mangaia’s rule by a member of the renowned Trego clan is assured.
This European surname was assumed by an earlier king in compliment to a Cornish missionary of that name, some three-quarters of a century ago, and has since passed to all the descendants, whether of full Maori or part-European blood. Commoners, on Mangaia, have no surnames, merely taking the father’s given name in addition to their own, under which condition Mangaian native nomen clature is in a continuous state of flux.
At this Coronation, all were required to wear local morning dress to the cere mony, performed in the great LMS church of Oneroa—morning dress being starched white drill for the males and muslin for the fair sex. Additional in terest was given by the presence at Man gaia of a large number of passengers, native and European from the new CIPA Fairmile, which brought a “tere” from Rarotonga. The little motor-vessel stayed off the reef for three days, departing for Rarotonga on the afternoon of Corona tion Day.