Death Of “Greatest
p. 77 · Read in the full issue
Polynesian"
THE man who has been called, by Sir Peter Buck, “the greatest Polyne sian of all time” died in New Zea land in July. He was Sir Apirana Ngata, leader of the Maori people and New Zea land statesman.
He was 76 and had been in ill health for some time.
He was educated at Te Aute College and Canterbury University College where he took his BA degree in 1893.
He then studied law and was admitted as a barrister and solicitor. He entered politics in 1905 and retained his seat in the New Zealand Parliament until his retirement in 1943.
He was noted for his contributions to the culture of the Maoris for he preserved their art and their traditions. He was a gifted writer on ethnological and his torical subjects.
Russian-born, Mischa Abehouse, of Sydney, went to Noumea, New Caledonia, to tune the piano of French soprano, Madame Ninon Vallin. He stayed eight months and tuned 120 pianos. He was back in Sydney in July—but only to obtain parts for the large pipe organ for the Catholic Cathedral in Noumea.