Kleider machen Leute: VIc

Back to the sixth sentence, whose first two clauses were covered in the previous post:

Solcher Habitus war ihm zum Bedürfnis geworden, ohne daß er etwas Schlimmes oder Betrügerisches dabei im Schilde führte; vielmehr war er zufrieden, wenn man ihn nur gewähren und im stillen seine Arbeit verrichten ließ; aber lieber wäre er verhungert, als daß er sich von seinem Radmantel und von seiner polnischen Pelzmütze getrennt hätte, die er ebefalls mit großem Anstand zu tragen wußte.

We are up to the part:

aber lieber wäre er verhungert, als daß er sich von seinem Radmantel und von seiner polnischen Pelzmütze getrennt hätte,

which translates into English roughly as 'he would rather go hungry than be separated from his cloak and his Polish furcap'. For this, I need to understand how to convey the subjunctive mood ('would') in te reo Māori. Harlow (2001) mentions the subjunctive in passing but doesn't explain how it is done, and this particular structure of alternatives doesn't appear in any of the examples.

The sentence has two parts:

aber lieber wäre er verhungert,

and

als daß er sich von seinem Radmantel und von seiner polnischen Pelzmütze getrennt hätte,

The first part gives a contingent result: 'go hungry/starve'; whereas the second provides the alternative: 'being separated from his cloak and cap'. It could be rephrased as:

He would prefer to starve instead of being separated from his cloak and cap

or perhaps:

That he may starve lest he should be separated from his cloak and cap

Williams' First Lessons in Maori (1930) gives examples of subjunctive and Future (Consequential) 'that he may' and Future (Deprecatory/Precautionary) 'lest he should' which seem applicable, though I think the first clause might be better using the particle kē ['instead of/despite']. That is:

Ka hiahia kē ia ki te matekai

where:

Ka hiahia kē = 'would rather' [Ka is verbal particle for inceptive (new action)]
matekai = 'to starve'

The second part could be done using tē + verb + kē ai which gives the meaning 'instead of', so:

Ka hiahia kē ia ki te matekai, tē ngaro kē ai tōna kahu me tōna pōtae huru o Pōrana i a ia

where:

ngaro = be lost
pōtae huru = fur cap
o Pōrana = from Poland

All up we now have for the sixth sentence:

Kua whakamahia ia kia hiahia ki āhua pērā, ahakoa kāore tōna whakaaro i kino i taua āhua, ā, ahakoa kāore tōna whakaaro i te nuka ki taua āhua. Otirā i hari ia, mehemea i waihotia ia, me tōna tuku ki te mahi ki hea taurikura. Engari ka hiahia kē ia ki te matekai, tē ngaro kē ai tōna kahu me tōna pōtae huru o Pōrana i a ia.

This leaves just the relative clause referring to the cap being worn with dignity.

Any thoughts?