TREGEAR, EDWARD (1846-1931), the only son of Captain W. J. Tregear, was born in Southampton, educated at private schools in England, and arrived in New Zealand in 1863. He saw active service during the Maori war, and was afterwards a first-class sub-inspector in the Armed Constabulary in charge of the native contingent (1873). He was later captain of the Patea Rifles (1879), and of the Wellington Civil Service Rifles (1899).

Tregear entered the civil service in the Survey department, and on the creation of the Labour department was appointed successively Secretary of the Bureau of Industries (1891), chief inspector of factories (1891) and Secretary of the Labour department (1898). When he retired (in 1911) he was made a member of the Imperial Service Order. In 1907 he was president of the civil servants' association. He was chairman of three royal commissions—on private benefit societies (1897), on the kauri gum industry (1898), and on the cost of living (1912).

A profound student of Maori and Polynesian races and tongues, Tregear published many papers in the proceedings of learned societies. He was a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (1887), of the Royal Historical Society (1888), of the Royal Anthropological Society of Great Britain (1888), and of the Royal Society of Italy (1893), and an officier de l'Académie française (1896). In 1899 he became a fellow of the Imperial Institute and a governor of the New Zealand Institute. He was secretary (with S. Percy Smith) of the Polynesian Society for 11 years, and president for two years, and also belonged to the Hawaiian Historical Society and to the Société d'Etudes Océaniennes (Tahiti).

Tregear's publications include Southern Parables (1884), The Aryan Maori (1885), Fairy Tales and Folk Lore of New Zealand and the South Seas (1891), Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary (1891), Paumotuan Dictionary (1895), Hedged with Divinities (1895), A Vocabulary and Grammar of the Niue Dialect (1897), Dictionary of Mangarewa (1899), Notes from Oceania, The Maori Race (1904), and Shadows and Other Verses (1919).

In 1880 he married Bessy, daughter of Hamar H. Arden of New Plymouth. He died on 28 Oct 1931.

App. H.R., 1873 GB; Who's Who N.Z., 1908, 1924, 1932; Polyn. Jour., vol. 40; Evening Post, 28 Oct 1931; The Dominion, 29 Oct 1931 (p).

Reference: Volume 2, page 200

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