Page:The Dictionary of Australasian Biography.djvu/393

 Zealand. He narrowly escaped slaughter at the hands of Hongi at Matakitaki in 1822. In 1831 Te Whero Whero, as he was then called, led an immense war party against the Taranaki Maoris and killed many hundreds of the Ngatiawa tribe, whose lands more than ten years later he claimed by right of conquest. In 1844 Te Whero Whero was the prominent figure at a great feast of the Waikato tribe given at Remuera, near Auckland, with the view mainly of impressing Governor with the power of the Northern Maoris. He was subsequently received at Government House, Auckland, and treated with great distinction by Fitzroy. In 1847 he wrote with other chiefs to the Queen to insist upon the observance of the stipulations of the treaty of Waitangi in regard to the inviolability of native lands, which had been ignored in a despatch of Earl Grey, the Colonial Secretary, to Sir, the then Governor of the colony. In reply Earl Grey completely changed his tone and assured the chiefs that her Majesty had directed that the treaty should be religiously and scrupulously observed. In 1857, known as the kingmaker, issued a circular "to all Waikato" proposing the appointment of Potatau, as he was now called, to the kingship of New Zealand, this move being taken as a counterblast to the growing authority of the Queen of England, which it was hoped it would neutralise. Potatau unwillingly accepted the nomination, and claimed only the title of "Matua, father." Ultimately, however, he took up a more aggressive, though always calm and dignified, attitude. He died on June 25th, 1860, and was succeeded by his son (q.v.).  Powers, Hon. Charles, M.L.A., was born in North Brisbane in 1853, and educated at the Ipswich and Brisbane Grammar Schools. He was admitted a solicitor in 1876, and in 1881 was elected alderman of Maryborough and mayor in 1883. In 1886 Mr. Powers became a member of the Burrum Divisional Board, and assisted largely in developing the Burrum coalfields and the northern coal trade. In 1887 he went to London and formed the Isis Investment Company. He was elected member of the Legislative Assembly for the Burrum District at the general election in 1888, and was appointed a member of the Ministry, without portfolio, on Sept. 20th, 1889. On Nov. 19th in the same year he succeeded Mr. as Postmaster-General and Secretary for Public Instruction, resigning with his colleagues in August 1890, previous to which he represented Queensland at the Intercolonial Postal Conference held at Adelaide.  Praed, Mrs. Campbell (Rosa Caroline Murray-Prior), was born at Bromelton, on the Logan river, Queensland, on March 27th, 1851, and is the daughter of Hon., M.L.C., and Matilda his first wife, daughter of Thomas Harpur, of Cecil Hills, N.S.W. Miss Murray-Prior was educated mainly at Brisbane, and previous to her marriage saw a great deal of the social and political life of Queensland, which she has utilised so effectively in her various novels. On AugustOctober [sic] 29th, 1872, she married Arthur Campbell Bulkley Mackworth Praed, son of a banker in Fleet Street, London, and nephew of the poet Winthrop Mackworth Praed. Mr. and Mrs. Campbell Praed lived at their station on Curtis Island, Qd., until 1876, when they came to London. In 1880 she published her first novel, "An Australian Heroine," which has been followed in rapid succession by a number of works of fiction, many of which are thoroughly Australian in character; such as "Policy and Passion," (or "Longleat of Kooralbyn"); "Moloch"; "The Head Station"; "Affinities"; "Australian Life"; "Black and White"; "Miss Jacobsen's Chance"; "The Bond of Wedlock" (subsequently dramatised by the author, and produced by Mrs. Bernard Beere, under the name of the heroine, Ariane); "The Brother of the Shadow," "The Soul of Countess Adrian." In addition Mrs. Campbell Praed has collaborated with Mr. Justin McCarthy, M.P., and produced a series of novels dealing mainly with English political and social life, but some parts of which are distinctly Australian, and evidently from her pen. These are "The Right Honourable"; "The Ladies' Gallery"; and the "Rival Princess." Mrs. Campbell Praed is generally recognised as the most brilliant and successful of Australian novelists. Her descriptions of the scenery of her native land are unsurpassed; and Australians cannot be blamed for thinking her work, which 377