(? – 1870).

Te Ati Awa chief.

A new biography of Te Puni-kokopu, Honiana appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Honiana Te Puni was a Te Ati Awa chief of high lineage who was descended from Takarangi and Rau-Mahora. His own father was Rerewha-i-te-Rangi, son of Aniwaniwa and Tawhirikura, the originators of the Tawhirikura subtribe of Te Ati Awa. His mother was Te Puku. Te Puni lived at Pukeariki pa, New Plymouth, and took part in the successful defence of Otaka against the Waikato. Later he accompanied the followers of Wharepouri, Rawa-Kitua, and Ngatata, southward in the “heke” Tama te Uaua.

His people settled in the neighbourhood of Cook Strait or Whanganui-a-Tara and, by about 1832, he was fully established at his pa on the beach at “Pito-one”, now known as Petone. In 1840 Te Wharepouri and Te Puni welcomed the first New Zealand Company pioneers to Port Nicholson. Soon after, Te Puni was one of the signatories of the Treaty of Waitangi and the deed of purchase of the land about Wellington. He accepted the portion of payment due to the Maori residents at Petone and effected the construction of a store for Colonel W. Wakefield at his own pa. The leading position which he held is evident from the fact that the toast at the opening of Barrett's Hotel in 1840 was to “Te Puni and the chiefs”. Along with Wi Tako, Te Puni vigorously defended the Europeans when Boulcott's farm was attacked on 16 May 1846. In recognition of his friendly services, Te Puni was presented with a silver cup in 1848 by Alexander Currie, the Chairman of the Directors of the New Zealand Company.

In 1848 Te Puni was appointed an official visitor at the Wellington Hospital, while Governor Grey chose him as one of his esquires on being knighted. In 1850 he returned with Rawa-Kitua to his ancestral lands in Taranaki, where he was to experience during the 1860s racial tensions and physical collisions between European and Maori. Yet, although Te Puni must have been grieved and at times angered towards the European attitude and actions, he left the following words for his people: “… Be kind to my European brothers and sisters, be patient, be tolerant …”

He died on 5 December 1870 and was accorded a State funeral with full military honours. Among his pallbearers were Sir Donald McLean and Sir William Fitzherbert. His name is commemorated today in the Lower Hutt suburb, Epuni.

by Bernard John Foster, M.A., Research Officer, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington.

• Wellington Independent, 6, 8, 10 Dec 1870
• Dominion, 10 Aug 1927
• Evening Post, 26 Oct 1929.

The Pancake Rocks at Dolomite Point, Punakaiki, form a well-known tourist attraction some 30 miles north along the coast road from Greymouth. A track from the road leads through native ferns, pongas, and nikau palms to the coast, where rain and sea water have widened the joints in a well-bedded limestone that dips gently seaward into many deep narrow channels. The remnants survive as narrow ridges and pillars in which the softer layers have been eroded out, leaving the harder layers projecting to give the layered effect from which the rocks take their name. Caves and large open chambers, the largest with a natural bridge, have been carved in the rock by the Tasman Sea, assisted by the explosive effects of air compressed in the joints by the waves. On calm days the running of the sea in the caves and chambers, and the gentle hiss of escaping air are heard, but when it is rough, thunderous booming and rumbling noises accompany geyser-like jets of water and compressed air from the blowholes as the sea rushes in and out of the caves and chambers in its relentless attack on the headland.

by Frederick Ernest Bowen, B.SC.(DURHAM), New Zealand Geological Survey, Otahuhu.

Pukekohe is situated 31 miles south of Auckland by road and 5 miles west of the Bombay Hills. To the south the land rises gently to the Pukekohe Hill but elsewhere the surrounding country is flat to undulating. The North Island Main Trunk railway runs through the town but the main Auckland-Hamilton highway passes 5 miles east. By road Pukekohe is 55 miles north-west of Hamilton and 5 miles north-west of Tuakau.

The main rural activity of the district is market gardening. Potatoes and onions are grown extensively. Dairy and sheep farming are also important. Pukekohe is a servicing and distributing centre for a closely settled district. Industrial activities include the manufacture of butter and milk powder, vegetable processing; the making of concrete products, farm implements, joinery, and general and precision engineering. There are stock saleyards in the town. Within the borough are several areas of intensive market gardening. In recent years residential housing has tended to encroach on market gardening land and to extend up the northern slopes of Pukekohe Hill.

Pukekohe is considered to have been founded in 1880. European settlement was well established, however, to the north and west of the district by 1856. With the clearing of dense bush in the vicinity of Pukekohe, large areas of productive volcanic land became available. The soil proved suitable for crop raising and, with the growth of the large urban market of Auckland, the district became an important vegetable growing area. Pukekohe emerged as a natural market centre for the district. During 1863 there was considerable skirmishing in the country round the settlement. In October 1863 the stockaded Church of St. Bride's at Mauku (5 miles west) was attacked by Maoris who had earlier been engaged with troops in the vicinity. The enemy was driven off with loss. At Pukekohe East (3 miles east) on 14 September 1863 a large Maori war party laid siege to the local Presbyterian Church, which had been hastily fortified, but following reinforcement of the garrison by troops, the enemy was dispersed with loss. Pukekohe was linked with Auckland by rail in 1875 as a result of the extension of the line to Mercer. On 10 June 1905 Pukekohe was created a town district and on 1 April 1912 became a borough.

The name is an abbreviation of “Puke kohekohe” which means “Hill of the kohekohe (a native tree)”.

POPULATION: 1951 census, 3,647; 1956 census, 4,689; 1961 census, 5,787.

by Brian Newton Davis, M.A., Vicar, St. Philips, Karori West, Wellington and Edward Stewart Dollimore, Research Officer, Department of Lands and Survey, Wellington.

(Porphyrio porphyrio).

Also known as the swamp hen, this is the most commonly encountered of the five living species of the rail family native to New Zealand, the others being the closely related takahe or Notornis, weka, banded rail, spotless crake and marsh crake. Pukekos dwell in swamps, along lake shores, and in poorly drained pastures throughout New Zealand and Chatham Islands, and are occasionally wind-borne to the Kermadecs and Campbell Island. Though native to this country, the species, in the form of various subspecies, occurs widespread in a number of overseas countries. The local subspecies is called melanotus.

The plumage is mainly indigo blue; the head and wings are black, the latter with a greenish gloss. The feathers beneath the tail are white. When disturbed, pukekos flick their tail and the white feathers become more prominent. This habit of tail flicking is common to all other rails. Bill, legs, and feet are scarlet and the eyes ruby red. There is no clear distinction in the general appearance of the sexes, but males are slightly bigger than females. Ungraceful in becoming airborne, pukekos are strong on the wing and are also swift runners. Though their large feet are not webbed, pukekos are good swimmers. Their usual call is a piercing squawk.

Their diet consists of the soft parts of aquatic vegetation, grasses, clover, berries, and seeds. Most of these are usually eaten parrot fashion by holding them up to the beak in one claw. Animals, too, are eaten, and these may include insects, worms, fish (eels) and, occasionally, very young birds and birds' eggs. Pukekos sometimes damage vegetable gardens, crops, and haystacks, and these habits, plus those of eating wild ducks' eggs and their young, make them unpopular with sportsmen and farmers. The damage done, however, is often greatly exaggerated. In any event pukekos are not shot in any great numbers during their open season.

There is a lengthy breeding season and the nests consist of untidy bowls of grass or other locally available vegetation. Four to nine buff-coloured eggs blotched with purple are usually laid, but when pairs nest close together, egg stealing may occur, and sometimes two or three hens may share a nest, all these females apparently being mated to the one cock. Under such circumstances up to 16 eggs may be found in one nest. Both sexes share the task of incubation, the period of which is about four weeks.

by Gordon Roy Williams, B.SC.(HONS.)(SYDNEY), Lecturer in Agricultural Zoology, Lincoln Agricultural College.

(Laurelia novae-zelandiae).

This is a well-known, though not now common, New Zealand tree, that grows in lowland semi-swamp and gully forest from the north to part way down the South Island. An unusual feature is seen in the plank-buttresses, or wide-spreading, flanged lower bole. This is a common feature in tropical and semi-tropical trees, but pukatea is the only New Zealand tree showing it. The family to which it belongs is a small one and is principally tropical and semi-tropical. Laurelia has only two species, one in New Zealand and one in Chile. They are both aromatic trees with opposite leaves. Pukatea grows to heights of over 120 ft, and above the buttresses the bole has diameters of up to 4–5 ft. Branchlets are square. Leaves are 2–3 in. long, elliptic and coarsely toothed, dark green and glossy above. Flowers are inconspicuous and are in small racemes; male and female are on separate plants. The wood, although infrequently marketed now, is of value for boat building. It is rather soft, but very strong and tough and difficult to split. It is pale brown and figured, and is a good ornamental furniture timber.

by Alec Lindsay Poole, M.SC., B.FOR.SC., F.R.S.N.Z., Director-General of Forests, Wellington.

Lake Pukaki is in Canterbury, 94 miles by road from Timaru. It has an area of about 31 square miles, and lies at about 1,620 ft above sea level. The country that comprises the 523 square miles of its catchment is drained by two main rivers, the Tasman and the Hooker. The Tasman River is fed by rainfall and melt water from the Tasman Glacier and its tributaries, the Murchison, Ball, Hochstetter, Rudolf, and numerous other glaciers. The Hooker River obtains its water from rain and melt water from the Hooker and Mueller Glaciers and their tributaries. The total inflow to the lake varies between 600 and 30,700 cusecs, with an average of about 5,000 cusecs, The lake water is not clear, as it carries much fine sediment in suspension, and is cold (46°F). The lake occupies the lower end of a glaciated valley and is confined by a moraine 16,000–18,000 years old.

The outflow, and consequently the storage capacity of the lake, is controlled by a dam (the lake level can be varied between 1,610 and 1,637 ft above sea level), thus enabling more effective use to be made of the water by the 105-megawatt Lake Waitaki hydro-electric station. Other stations planned or under construction will also use water from Pukaki.

The meaning of the name is obscure but, according to a legend, Raikaihaitu (who dug out the Southern Lakes), noticing the bulging appearance of the outlet, gave this name, meaning “bunched-up waters”.

by Leslie Eric Oborn, A.O.S.M., New Zealand Geological Survey, Christchurch.

(c. 1816–1906).

Maori poetess.

A new biography of Puhiwahine Te Rangi-hirawea, Rihi appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Puhiwahine was born about 1816 on the Taringamotu Stream opposite the Petania pa. Her father was Rawiri Te Rangihirawea, who was a close relative of Te Heuheu Horonuku's wife, and her mother was Hinekiore, a famous song leader and a high priestess of the bird cult. Puhiwahine learnt from her mother the traditions and songs and dances of her people and at an early age became an accomplished performer at Ngati Tuwharetoa gatherings. In these years she travelled widely, visited many tribes, and composed many waiatas and action songs. Some of her love songs and lullabies enjoyed wide popularity. Her plaintive He Waiata Aroha mo Te Mahuta Te Toko is still sung as a farewell at tribal gatherings.

In the early 1840s, at Poaru, Taupo, Puhiwahine married Johann von Goethe (c. 1809–93), a German immigrant who had arrived in New Zealand in 1838. He was an innkeeper at Auckland and, later, at Wanganui. Goethe, or Gotty, as he anglicised his name, is believed by some to have been a grandson of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832), the great German poet.

After her marriage Puhiwahine lived at Wanganui and, later, at Gotty's farm in the Rangitikei district. She died at Ongarue on 18 February 1906 leaving two sons. Her songs and poetry, for which she is remembered, follow traditional Maori forms and rhythms and abound with traditional imagery. p. te H.J.

• Puhiwahine – Maori Poetess, Jones, P. te H. (1961).

(1884–1952).

Maori leader.

A new biography of Herangi, Te Kirihaehae Te Puea appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Born at Whatiwhatihoe in the Waikato, Te Puea came from a family of rank, her mother, Tiahuia, being a chieftainess and eldest daughter of Tawhiao, the second Maori king. Her father was Tahuna Herangi of Ngati Apakura. Te Puea did not attend school until she was 11 because of the ban on schooling by Tawhiao, following the confiscation of land after the Waikato war of 1863–64. After attending Mercer School, she went to Mangere and Parnell Schools, finally leaving in the third standard at the age of 15 when her mother died. Although her formal schooling was limited, she had evening Bible studies under her father's guidance and supplemented this by her growing interest in Maori lore. Even at that early age she absorbed as much as she could of tribal knowledge by listening to the elders in speech and song. She was encouraged to give speeches at gatherings and much attention was paid her. It is said that this made her individualistic and inclined to be arrogant. Conflict with “King” Mahuta and influential elders led to their disapproval and subsequent open criticism of Te Puea. Reconciliation with Mahuta came when Te Puea dragged him to safety from a mob of horses following a defiant session with him in the street when he tried to change her attitude.

As a result of this reconciliation Te Puea became more prominent at meetings and hers was a voice listened to with respect. She became a woman of action whose interest lay in community improvements. At Mercer in 1914 she was evolving her plans, but it was the move to Ngaruawahia in 1921 that paved the way for her work which stands as a memorial to her drive and energy. In 1928 she was the influence behind the construction of carved meeting houses there and in marae improvements of all kinds. Although help was obtained from outside the tribe, Te Puea insisted on sacrifices by Waikato craftsmen who responded by working for three years without payment. Similar sacrifices were asked of, and given by, the men responsible for the dedicated task of canoe construction for the 1940 centenary celebrations. The resurgence of old-time arts was due to her influence and was one of her most notable achievements. It was her aim to lift up the Maori people by a regeneration of culture combined with social progress.

Her main effort in social welfare lay in the development of Maori lands, where she set an example by taking part in the hard physical labour of turning idle lands into productive units. Te Puea's zeal and leadership led to the success of her land policy in spite of disappointments and lack of finances. Her humanity found outlet, too, in seeing to the welfare of young children and, later, in the working of women's organisations. In the latter years of her life she became a national figure, the first modern Maori woman of more than tribal importance and a power behind the King movement. Her work was recognised in the award of the C.B.E.

Princess Te Puea married Rewi Tumoko Katipa. There were no children. She died on 12 October 1952 at Turangawaewae Farm, Ngaruawahia.

by John Bruce Palmer, B.A., Curator, Fiji Museum, Suva.

• Waikato Times, 13 Oct 1952 (Obit).

Most New Zealand booksellers are members of the Associated Booksellers of New Zealand, founded in 1921 with a membership now of over 300. This organisation represents booksellers in approaches to Government over such matters as censorship and import licensing, and is also concerned with price fixing. Its actions in this regard were in 1961 challenged successfully by the Trade Practices Commission which heard a great deal of evidence and recorded the surprising opinion that it did “not believe for one moment that booksellers have any decisive or particular influence on the book buying propensities and the reading habits of New Zealanders”. This decision was revised on appeal in 1962.

The position of the bookseller (who caters for a minority, provides a complex service, and carries a very wide variety of stock) has been threatened everywhere by the competition of other forms of entertainment, by the wide dispersion of the sale of paperback books; and (especially in New Zealand) by a vast increase in the sale of magazines. Large shops both in England and in New Zealand are tending to mix their stock with other, and presumably more profitable, forms of merchandise. But there is no reason to expect any dramatic change in the position of bookselling and publishing in New Zealand, apart from the possible repercussions of the decision of the Trade Practices Tribunal. Nevertheless, there are indications that the retail book trade, as in England and the United States, may well have difficulty in maintaining its present position in the modern commercial world.

by David Blackwood Paul, M.A., LL.B. (1908–65), Bookseller and Publisher, Hamilton.

Censorship by the Customs Department has long been applied to books entering New Zealand, and this has stopped a number of books from entering the country. It must be said that this power has been exercised with more discretion than in Australia, though an early advisory committee, on which booksellers were represented, seems to have been less tolerant in the twenties.

Decisions of the Customs Department were for a number of years reviewed by a non-governmental Advisory Committee and were subject to an appeal to the Courts; but few cases were in fact brought before them. A notable exception was Lolita, which was declared indecent first by the Supreme Court and then by a majority in the Court of Appeal in 1960. In 1963 the Indecent Publications Act of 1910 was replaced by new legislation. Much public and particularly newspaper objection was made to the setting up of a tribunal to determine indecency and specially to the power conferred on it to supress publication of its proceedings in the newspapers (and indeed of the name of the book concerned) unless “a difficult or important question” was being considered. The more liberal tone of the new legislation therefore escaped notice, perhaps fortunately for the cause of freedom. Every decision of the tribunal must be published in the New Zealand Gazette. (NOTE—On 11 August 1964, by a majority decision and without qualification, the tribunal found Lolita was “not indecent”. The chairman, Mr Justice A. P. Blair, dissenting, expressed the opinion that the book should be made available to persons over the age of 18 years. Ed.)