BENNETT, Charles Moihi Te Arawaka, D.S.O.

(1913– ).

Administrator.

A new biography of Bennett, Charles Moihi Te Arawaka appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

p>Charles Moihi Bennett was born in Rotorua on 27 July 1913, son of the Right Rev. Bishop F. A. Bennett, and was educated at Canterbury Univ. College, Otago University and Exeter College, Oxford. His career in the Second World War was distinguished, for he rose from the ranks to be Lieutenant-Colonel in command of the Maori Battalion, winning the D.S.O. and suffering severe wounds. He has held responsible positions in the Department of Education, Broadcasting, Internal Affairs, and Maori Affairs, and from 1959 to 1962 was High Commissioner for New Zealand in Malaya. On his return he became Assistant Secretary of Maori Affairs.