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- Intro : E pa to hou.
Pei te Hurinui Jones died at his home in Taumarunui Thursday 6th May 1976. At the age of 78 years. He was a former President of the New Zealand Māori Council, he gained fame for numerous literacy works. Among the most outstanding of his achievements were the completion of a Māori translation of Shakespeare's plays, "The Merchant of Venice" and "Julia Caesar".
Pei Te Hurinui lay in state on his ancestral Marae "Tokanganui-a-Noho" at
Te Kuiti. All the tribes of Maoridom were represented, they had travelled long distances to pay homage to a man who spent a lifetime, lovingly putting together into book form the literacy treasures of his forbears.
His massive contributions was recognised in the time honoured custom of eulogies, incantations and the shedding of tears.
Kaikōrero : Hēnare Tuwhangai (Ngāti Maniapoto) paying homage to Pei te
Hurinui.
Excerpt of Pei te Hurinui taken in Gisborne at a the Māori welcome to "Her
Majesty Queen Elizabeth the II" in1970.
Selwyn reads excerpts from Omar Khayyam with Pei te Hurinui's translations in te Reo Māori.
Kaikōrero : Professor Bruce Biggs of the Anthropology Dept Auckland University pays tribute to Pei Te Hurinui, they were life long friends sharing the same canoe "Tainui" and the same goals the preservation of oral traditions of the Māori people.