Ralph Love

Sir Makere Rangiatea "Ralph" Love QSO JP (16 September 1907 – 22 August 1994) was a Māori public servant and leader of Te Āti Awa.

He was born at Homebush on Arapaoa Island, Queen Charlotte Sound. His parents, Wi Hapi Pakau Love and Ripeka Wharawhara Love, belonged to senior families of Te Āti Awa, Taranaki and Ngati Ruanui, with connections to most of the iwi of Taranaki, Wellington and the northern South Island. Love was a direct descendant of Ngati Te Whiti and Ngati Tawhirikura chiefs who controlled Petone and Ngauranga at the time of the Treaty of Waitangi.

He was educated at Petone West School and Petone District High School. His father arranged for him to join the Native Trust Office as a cadet in 1925. Soon after, he became a clerk in the Native Department.

On 6 May 1933 married Flora Heberley, the daughter of carver Thomas "Tamati" Heberley. They had a daughter, Marie Nui Te He, and a son, Ralph Heberley Ngātata.

When the Second World War broke out Love joined the army, but was declared medically unfit for overseas service: in 1927 he had broken ribs playing rugby and developed tuberculosis. He served as a recruiting and liaison officer with the Māori War Effort Organisation, and in 1946 was appointed a justice of the peace. From 1944 to 1949 he served (at first unofficially) as parliamentary private secretary to MP and cabinet minister Sir Eruera Tirikatene. Love was Tirikatene's private secretary again in 1957–60, and worked closely with him and his successor and daughter, Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan, for many years.

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