Front Cover
Spine
Back Cover
The Maori King
or the
Story of Our Quarrel
with
The Natives of New Zealand
c. 1863
The
Maori Kingby
J. E. Gorst
Edited with an introduction by
Associate Professor of History, University of Auckland
Paul's Book Arcade
Hamilton & Auckland: New Zealand
London:Oxford University Press
Reprinted 1959
This edition is published with the assistance of the
New Zealand Literary Fund
Printed in Great Britain by
Tonbridge Printers Ltd. , Tonbridge, Kent
Contents
List of Illustrations
Editor's Introduction
GBPP, 1865/3425, Gorst to Harold E. Gorst, On the 17th of May, 1860, the ‘splendid White Star Liner Red Jacket, Capt. S. Reed’—quite the finest merchant vessel ever to call at the port, in the estimation of a local newspaper—berthed at Auckland, 111 days out from Liverpool.Southern Cross, 18 May, 1860.The Fourth Party (1906), pp. 25–6.
A month earlier, war had broken out in Taranaki, two hundred miles to the south. In the capital, Auckland, the settlers were waiting anxiously to see whether the great tribes of the Waikato district, a mere fifty miles to the south, would fall upon the almost defenceless town. Two years before, those tribes, supported by many others, had shown what they thought of the Queen's government by electing their own King. Already some of the more militant among them were setting out to help the rebellious Taranaki tribes.
Within a year, it was to be Gorst's task to try to introduce British authority along the Waikato river; to describe the ceremonies and intrigues at the court of the Maori King; and to chronicle the events leading to a new campaign in the Maori Wars.
Gorst was born in Preston, Lancashire, in 1835 Statements about Gorst not otherwise attested are based on information in the following sources: Gorst's letter cited in note 2 above; H. E. Gorst, The Fourth Party (1906); The Maori King (1864) and New Zealand Revisited (1908).
The adventures which—as his son believed—Gorst sought, came soon enough. In the Red Jacket he helped put down a mutiny; acted for a time as amateur doctor; and became engaged to Miss
Late in June, while Gorst was assisting at this task, the Reverend ‘Letters and Journals of the Rev. B. Y. Southern Cross, had been wrecked near Whangarei, to the north of Auckland. He and the rest of her crew and passengers had been rescued after spending a night in the rigging.Southern Cross, 26 June, 1860.Mikado and the character of “Pooh-bah” had been heard of.’New Zealand Revisited, p. 31.
Two weeks were spent in unavailing efforts to refloat the mission schooner. Gorst saw his first Maori villages, bought his first Maori pig, and by night, while he picked oakum for caulking, had lessons in Maori from the Bishop. At the end of July he returned to Australia to marry.Daily Southern Cross, 30 July, 1864.
By early October Mr and Mrs Gorst were on their way
The Maori King (see below, pp. 3–4, 98–100). A Maori had been shot, allegedly by Europeans, and the Waikato tribes were threatening to attack the settlements. It was at this time that Gorst first met New Zealand Revisited, p. 141.
Gorst spent some months on the Waikato. For a time he taught at a school for Maori boys at Hopuhopu, near Taupiri. ‘Letters and Journals of the Rev. T. Gore Browne Letterbook, National Archives, Wellington, T. Gore Browne to Sir 18 May, 1 June, 26 June, 1861.New Zealander, an Auckland newspaper, under the pseudonym ‘Fabius’.
What policy, he asked, was the Government to adopt, now that it stood face to face with the Maori King? Force—or conciliation? The world at large would not, he suggested, think that there was ‘much glory in a highly civilized nation of 28,000,000 men crushing 50,000 “half-naked savages”.’ There were great difficulties in the way of a policy of force. Moreover, he reflected:
It is not impossible that the process of forcing law and civilization upon the Maories may render the Maories incapable of receiving them; the medicine may be drastic, butinduce a more incurable disease. The Maories have vices at present, but they are those of free men and not of slaves. That same haughty independence which renders them disagreeable to some people, and difficult to bring under fixed laws, is the very quality which affords strong hope of their ultimate civilization.
He concluded that, while it was undoubtedly desirable that the King movement should be put down, it should be done by peaceful means. The Government should introduce a comprehensive scheme of English education and law in the Waikato.
Already Gorst had formed the views which, partially modified by his later experience, he was to advance in Some of Fenton's reports are summarised in Chapter VI, below. The originals are to be found in AJHR, 1860, E-1C and F-3, p. 133 ff. See Ashwell's ‘Journals’ and AJHR, 1860, F-3, p. 45 ff., where Ashwell defends Fenton before the Waikato Committee, a Select Committee of the House of Representatives which in 1860 investigated the condition of the Maoris in the Waikato.The Maori King. The King movement he regarded as ‘the revolt of the most intelligent and patriotic Natives’ against the policy of laissez faire adopted by the Government in Maori districts. ‘Under this rude form of government [the King movement], it is no exaggeration to say that the Maories have done more for themselves than we have ever done for them.’ The Government neglected to rule the Maoris or to confer promised benefits upon them; and losing faith in the British, they determined to unite in order to look after themselves. Substantially, these were the views of feel they must have law; if not Anarchy will soon prevail.’
Gorst's first letter provoked a leading article in the other Auckland newspaper, the 21 May, 1861. See Gorst's reports to Fox, AJHR, 1862, E-1, pp. 13–14.Southern Cross.
Gorst's life in the Waikato from this time onwards is described in AJHR, 1862, E-9, III.The Maori King. Though he won the confidence and affection of many Maoris, he was boycotted in his official capacity. As a magistrate, his duties amounted to settling civil disputes among the handful of local settlers. When he tried to assert his authority among the Maoris, he was defied. In June 1862 he wrote a report on the anarchy prevailing in his district and the inadequacy of the Government's measures.
I there became the subject of the extraordinary powers of personal persuasion which was one of the remarkable characteristics of SirGeorge Grey . He agreed with the conclusions drawn in my report, and in the opinions formed of the general condition of the natives. He not only persuaded me to go on in the native service, but inspired me with great confidence in himself and the measures he proposed to take. He disclaimed any responsibility for what had hitherto been done inWaikato, and hinted that he agreed with me in thinking Mr Fox and his ministry a set of old women; and it ended by the whole Waikato district, both Upper and Lower, being placed under my charge, with the provision that I was to take all instructions from Sir George Grey himself.
New Zealand Revisited,pp. 224–5. The interview occurred in late June. 4, memo written by Gorst at this time and a letter to Grey are in AJHR, 1863, E-A pp. 35–6.
Gorst returned to the Waikato as the Civil Commissioner, the local representative of the Government. His chief task was to introduce the new scheme of local government, which would now be called one of ‘indirect rule’, in the Waikato. He was to act as president of the Maori District Runanga (Assembly) and to guide its deliberations—a difficult task which Gorst did not have to face, since no Runanga met in his District. He was to administer the law, hold courts, settle land disputes, perhaps raise taxes, and to cope with whatever problems might arise.
Gorst took over Morgan's mission station, which remained his headquarters until he was driven out by the Kingites on 18 April, 1863.
The Government invested much money £3,360 in nine months, for example, on the education of a dozen Maori boys (the average monthly attendance at Gorst's school). AJHR, 1863, E-14.
Their prosecution was confided to a man who, to a real interest in the Native people, united peculiar abilities for the task: willingly relinquishing the advantages which private fortune gave him in a country where wealth is so easily accumulated, and content, a Master of Arts of Cambridge University, to live in the bush, almost without society and without books, for the sake of laying the foundation, with a few poor Native boys, of a school that should replace the indolence and dirt of a pa, by the industry, discipline, and comfort of a civilized home.AJHR, 1863, E-1, p. 1.
For a few months after leaving the Waikato Gorst acted (‘out of friendship’) as private secretary to Bell, who was suffering
Daily Southern Cross, 4 and 5 August, 1863.
For a time his views received, in New Zealand at least, all the publicity he could have wished. A speech he made in Preston, his letters to E.g. The Times and the Evening Mail, an article in MacMillan's Magazine and then the publication of The Maori King,
New Zealand Herald, 26 February, 2 March, 19 March, 1864; Daily Southern Cross, 7 July, 8 July, 30 July, 6 August, 1864, 24 August, 1865. These newspapers quote the comments of English, Taranaki and other newspapers.
The colonial newspapers were ever on the look-out for self-interest behind actions or opinions of which they disapproved. One alleged that Gorst was suffering from ‘sour grapes’ from not securing a seat in the Legislative Council. It was said that he aspired to an imperial appointment as Native Commissioner to rule the Maoris—a view which the last chapter of The Maori King seemed to support. Editors complained of his rashness and, above all, of his facetiousness. He wrote his book, the Daily Southern Cross suggested, ‘to prove to his friends that he… was an uncommonly clever fellow.…’
Throughout much of his life, Gorst was to make enemies not so much by what he said as by how he said it. A common reaction to him was that of the Reverend John Morgan (who was, indeed, suffering from ‘sour grapes’, for Gorst had taken
Morgan's ‘Letters and Journals’, 3 October, 1864. Morgan felt himself very badly treated over the loss of his school and apparently resigned from the Church Missionary Society.
In the twentieth century, as the hatreds of the New Zealand civil wars have died down, The Maori King has come to be regarded as one of the very best of nineteenth-century accounts of life among the Maoris. But its importance extends far beyond these shores. Whoever wishes to understand the building of the nineteenth-century British Empire, not merely in terms of the formulation of policy in London, but quite literally, from its foundation in native villages all over the world, can scarcely do better than turn to Gorst. His book has, moreover, a relevance to the modern world where nationalist movements, often anti-European in tendency, and imperial (or ‘imperialist’) wars, continue to occur. Where else has the development and character of a non-European national movement, or the day-to-day events leading to a ‘native’ war, been so carefully reported from personal knowledge?
Gorst's account of his activities in the Waikato in the years 1860–63, and of the events leading to new campaigns in Taranaki and the Waikato, is a record of permanent value to the student of New Zealand history.
Gorst is very critical of the British invasion of the Waikato district in 1863. He speaks from first-hand knowledge, and on many of the attendant circumstances his is the most important testimony. However, he is not entirely fair to the Governor. Gorst shows that, by early 1863, Grey had tired of his unavailing efforts to persuade the disaffected Maoris to accept British authority, and decided upon firmer measures. He went to Taranaki and sent troops to reoccupy the European land at Tataraimaka, which the Maoris had held since the fighting of 1860–61. This was an unwise move, for Grey knew perfectly well that many Maoris would regard it as a declaration of war. To
Two months later, in July 1863, Grey ordered the invasion of the Waikato. He sought to justify this on two grounds, first of all as a punitive expedition against Rewi. In effect, as Gorst says, he was making all the King tribes pay for the act of Rewi and a few other chiefs. Secondly, Grey explained that the invasion was carried out to forestall an imminent attack, of which the Government had received many warnings, on the Auckland settlers. This brings us to one of the most controversial points of New Zealand history.
It is quite certain that Rewi and the most anti-European Maoris had contemplated attacking the settlements. The Government received too many warnings to leave room for doubt on this point. But Grey alleged that there was a definite plot, and that, before the British invasion, Maoris had already begun to move into position for attack. Many historians—and a Royal Commission which investigated the incident in 1927—have accepted the Governor's word. Nevertheless no unequivocal evidence has ever been produced to establish his contention. It is probably now impossible either to prove or disprove it. To the editor the very lack of convincing evidence makes it seem improbable that the Maoris had come to a firm decision to attack. On this point Gorst was probably in a better position to judge than anyone else:
It is, without doubt, highly probable that an attack on Auckland was proposed and discussed at war meetings. It would be strange had it been otherwise. We had often proposed and discussed an attack upon Waikato ourselves. But that the Waikatos would have crossed Mangatawhiri to assail us, I utterly disbelieve.… Tamihana and others kept Rewi fromattacking Auckland, for a period of two months and a half, while the town was comparatively defenceless; and there is no reason to suppose that they would have failed to restrain him when the town was under the protection of ten thousand soldiers.
Nevertheless, Gorst rather minimises the difficulties of the Governor's position. The immediate reason for the threatened attack on Auckland was Grey's own actions in Taranaki—but the threat did exist, and he had to meet it. In Taranaki Grey had ignored warnings of an ambush and they had proved only too well founded. Gorst is somewhat contradictory on this point, for he remarks that the authorities could not afford to make the same mistake again, and then says that the Maori warnings were ‘in themselves no real evidence of danger’. From Grey's point of view, if he ignored the warnings in Auckland, the hostile Maoris might move undetected through the dense Hunua forest and fall upon the out-settlers and villages. Rather than take the risk, Grey decided to attack first and to drive the Maoris up the Waikato river.
Needless to say, Gorst's references to events prior to his arrival in New Zealand are less reliable than those arising from his own experience. His account of the events which led to the first Taranaki campaign (Chapter VII) is substantially a summary of the explanation, highly inaccurate and misleading, offered by the Government of that day. He creates prejudice in the reader's mind by asserting that the Ngatiawa, including
Gorst has little to say about the early origins of the King movement in the eighteen-forties and fifties, or about its rise in districts outside the Waikato. Consequently his remarks need to be amplified by reference to earlier events and other places, in particular to the anti-land-selling movement and the For more recent studies of the Maori national movement see the following books: Kotahitanga (unity) movement in the Taranaki and Wellington Provinces.The Maoris of New Zealand (1910); K. Sinclair, The Maori Land League (1950) and The Origins of the Maori Wars (1957); The Maori People Today (1940), Chapter 11, ‘Maori and Pakeha’, by H. Miller. For recent detailed articles see The Journal of the Polynesian Society (Vol. 62, No. 3, 1953), R. W. Winks, ‘The Doctrine of Hau-Hauism’, (Vol. 65, No. 3, 1956), Historical Studies: Australia and New Zealand (Vol. 5, No. 18, 1952), K. Sinclair, ‘Maori Nationalism and the European Economy, 1850–60’.
It has been suggested that Gorst's first interpretation of the rise of the King movement was influenced by that of F. The Maori King; indeed, he paraphrases or quotes several passages from the letters of ‘Fabius’ written three years earlier. ‘If we had educated the natives in civilization, and fitted them for the enjoyment of those full rights, as British subjects, which the Treaty of Waitangi promised, nothing would have been heard of ‘land-leagues’ and ‘king-movements’ (p. 26). In discussing other motives which led to the King movement, he generally relates them to this central theme. For instance, he emphasises the general reluctance to sell land, but suggests (in a passage on p. 44 taken from ‘Fabius’) that they would have sold it for civilization and equality. Or he refers to the Maoris’ sense of political inferiority on finding themselves excluded from the political institutions of a self-governing colony, but again he relates this feeling to their desire for equality.
Such an explanation of Maori nationalism had (and has) considerable appeal. It attributes the most enlightened motives to the Maoris, while suggesting that a wise European government could have prevented all desire for Maori separatism. Nevertheless, it is open to serious objections. For one thing it minimises the force of the Maori anti-land-selling movement, which arose in the late eighteen-forties and early fifties among tribes who would not sell their land at any price. And it does not recognize the fundamental conflict of interest between the two races—each wanted the land, and especially the good arable land.
Another weakness of Gorst's basic assumptions about the King movement is apparent, perhaps, only in view of the subsequent history of Maori nationalism and of other similar movements. ‘Fabius’ asserted the imperialists' article of faith: ‘we can govern the Maories better than they can govern themselves’ (his italics). But was nationalism ever cured by good foreign government? Foreign government is, rather, a persistent cause of nationalist sentiment. Gorst sees the King movement as imitative of European government, but it was not merely that. Increasingly, after 1863, the Maori rebels came under the leadership of men who did not want European civilization; who rejected, ultimately, even Christianity. From the first they imitated European political organization, partly at least, in order more effectively to resist European colonization and to conserve their own society.
In The Maori King it can be seen that, in the light of further experience, Gorst was modifying his earlier opinions. In particular he now sees—and expresses with wonderful vividness—the brute force of racial hatred. Consequently in some respects his judgments on the King movement are more mature and convincing than those of ‘Fabius’. He appreciates that it was not entirely rational and progressive, for it is not likely that many Maoris, or any other people, ‘would be wise enough sincerely to desire order and laws’. He shows that different Maoris had different motives for supporting King Potatau. Now he ridicules
In his concluding chapter, Gorst proposes his solution to New Zealand's problems. It is a modification of the plans proposed in 1858 by Fenton and the Stafford ministry, and in 1861 by Grey and Fox. He would free all Maori districts from the colonists’ jurisdiction and place them under direct imperial control so that a fresh effort might be made to civilize and govern the Maoris, A British Resident would live among them, gain their confidence, and ‘teach them to obey’. It seems scarcely conceivable that such a scheme would have worked. The settlers would not have accepted the exclusion of great areas of good land from their control. The rebellious Maoris would not have welcomed further attempts to civilize them. And if, as Gorst shows, the Maoris would obey neither the Governor nor their own King in 1862–63, how were they to be taught obedience in 1864? The settlers’ answer was that they must be conquered. Gorst can merely talk of a Maori police force and of the ‘personal influence’ of the Resident. But he had already tried to form a Maori police—and Grey had sought to rely on his very considerable personal influence. They had failed, and it is difficult to believe that others might now have succeeded.
Gorst was called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1865. In the following year he was elected to Parliament, but lost his seat in 1868. Disraeli asked him to organize the Conservative Party on a popular basis, and for five years he laboured, without salary, at this task. He soon proved that the understanding of the problems of government which is revealed in his comments on the organizations of the Maoris and settlers, was matched by practical administrative ability of no common order. He has been credited with laying the basis of the first modern British political party and of the great Tory victory of 1874. He was disappointed not to get office (Disraeli later enquired why he had not asked for something, like everyone else) and was to be disappointed again.
In Parliament, in the years 1880–84, Gorst was one of a group of four Conservatives, whose leader was Lord Randolph
When the Conservatives took office in 1885, Lord Randolph Churchill became Secretary of State for India. Because of his patronage, Gorst, who had seemed marked out by talent and service for higher office, was appointed Solicitor—General. He was knighted and made a Privy Councillor. In later years, at various times, he held such important offices as Under—Secretary for India and Financial Sercretary to the Treasury. He was a successful lawyer; he laboured endlessly to reform education; but he did not win the most glittering prizes. He never over—came the hostility of most of the aristocratic leaders of his party. He was too independent, too outspoken; and he took ‘Tory democracy’ too seriously. Was it not, as Rosebery said, ‘the wolf of Radicalism in the sheep—skin of Toryism’? Gorst's career in British politics has been described in much detail. See, e.g., H. E. Gorst, The Fourth Party (1906); Lord Randolph Churchill, (1906); Lord Rosebery, Lord Randolph Churchill, (1906); W. F. Monypenny and G. E. Buckle, The Life of Benjamin Disraeli (1910–20).
The Maori Kingites were soon defeated; The King movement survives today, though its followers are less numerous than a century ago. It plays a vigorous part in local affairs in the Waikato. There have been five Maori Kings:
In all these developments, Sir
In 1906 Sir John returned to New Zealand as Special Commissioner representing the British Government at an International Exhibition in Christchurch. Te Kohi (as the Maoris called him) was met at the Auckland wharf by Patara, who had edited the Maori King newspaper, See Te Hokioi, while he was editing the rival Government paper, Te Pihoihoi Mokemoke. Everywhere he was warmly greeted by the Maoris as an old friend.New Zealand Revisited, passim; and the New Zealand Press, e.g., New Zealand Mail, 5 December, 12 December, 13 December, 1906; The Weekly Press, 19 December, 1906.New Zealand Revisited (1908), comparing the Colony he had known with the Dominion which New Zealand became in 1907.
The Maoris, he found, were very dissatisfied with the land legislation of the day. Some of them thought of sending a new deputation to London to lay their complaints before the British authorities, though Gorst tried to convince them of the futility of such actions. He still wondered, despite the increase in their numbers shown by the last two censuses, whether the Maoris were dying out. But though their condition was far from ideal, he was immensely impressed by ‘the alteration in sentiment with which the white and brown races regarded one another’.
He observed that the European New Zealanders now treated the Maoris ‘both politically and socially, as perfect equals’, and were ‘not a little proud of their success in assimilating into their
The sub-headings in the original table of contents have been omitted and an index is provided. A note on Maori pronunciation provided in the first edition has also been omitted. Except for the use of ‘£’ for ‘1’, the correction of a few spelling mistakes or inaccurate references in footnotes, and the clarification of the punctuation in one sentence, the text is that of the original edition of The Maori King published in 1864 by Macmillan and Company. It should be noted that, although the nineteenth century spelling of ‘Maories’ is retained in the text, the modern plural is ‘Maoris’. The editor's additional footnotes have been placed in square brackets, to distinguish them from Gorst's. All references to the Appendices to the Journals of the House of Representatives are given as ‘AJHR’ where Gorst wrote ‘N.Z. Parl. Papers’. British Parliamentary Papers are referred to as ‘GBPP’.
I am glad to acknowledge the help of Dr
Wherever possible I have identified Maoris mentioned by Gorst from references in newspapers, from missionary journals, from G. N. Scholefield's Dictionary of New Zealand Biography (1940), or from official reports of the eighteen-sixties. There are two lists of Waikato tribes published in 1860 (AJHR, 1860,
hapu (sub-tribe) of Maoris mentioned, or the name of their village, may in many cases find this information in these lists. The editor has, in general, not given this information, partly to avoid excessive detail; partly because most Maoris were related to several hapu; partly because government officials were unlikely, in collecting information, to mistake the tribe of a chief, but might have made errors in noting down the hapu.
In an Appendix will be found Southern Cross of 1858, though in places somewhat obscure, amplifies Gorst's account of the rise of the King and is, so far as is known, the only Maori description of these important meetings. It appears to establish beyond doubt, what has often been disputed, the date of the King's accession to power as 2 June, 1858.
The
Maori King
Chapter I
Introductory
I first landed in New Zealand in May, 1860, just after the out-break of the Taranaki war. The entire colony was at that time absorbed in watching the struggle that was going on between a handful of ill-armed savages and the Queen's well-disciplined soldiers, and in speculating on the probability of the whole Maori population rising to join in the conflict.
People in Auckland were especially anxious about the course that would be taken by the tribes living on the Waikato River, upon whose forbearance the very existence of Auckland appeared at that time to depend. A range of forest hills was pointed out from the town of Auckland, extending from east to south, and not more than twenty miles distant. Beyond these hills, the stranger was told, lay the Waikato country, inhabited by fierce warlike Maories, whose armed bands could at any moment swarm through the hill-side forests into the plain below, to burn the houses, drive off the cattle, and tomahawk the settlers.
It was said that these dreaded tribes had some years before declined all further connexion with their British rulers, and set up a king of their own. Their choice had fallen on a very aged
[ ( [ (c. 1800–1860.) Te Wherowhero, a great chief of the Ngatimahuta tribe; took part in tribal wars of the 1820s and 1830s. Elected first Maori King in 1858 and took title of Potatau I. For his genealogy, see AJHR, 1860, F-3, Appendix B.]c. 1795–1882.) Te Rangitake, a Nagatiawa chief of Taranaki. (Maoris often took a European name—in this case,
The result of our government of the Maories, thus seen in New Zealand, was marvellously inconsistent with the story usually told in England. It had always been said that the Maories possessed remarkable capacities for civilization, that they had been treated with singular kindness and perfect justice, and were happy and prosperous under British rule. It was natural to inquire the cause of such unfortunate results.
The story turned out to be strange and interesting.
Our rule, when first established in the country, was hailed by the Maories with delight. Both parties commenced relations with cordial good-will. The British Government, charmed at the prospect of beginning a new system in the treatment of native races, and of illustrating the Christian philanthropy of Britain by civilizing instead of exterminating, resolved to do its duty to its Maori neighbours, to be true and just in all its dealings, and, above all, not to covet or desire Maori lands. The natives, on the other hand, were ready to accept with gratitude the promised benefits, and looked forward with joy to the time when in all respects they should become the equals of their civilized Paheka [White man; foreigner.] [Representative institutions were introduced by the constitution of 1852; the first General Assembly met in 1854; the first responsible ministry was formed in 1856.] [
Not long after my arrival in New Zealand, the kindness of the Rev. B. Y. Ashwell, [Benjamin Yates Ashwell (1810–83). Church Missionary Society missionary; founded stations at Te Awamutu (1839) and then at Taupiri.] [The situation was more dangerous than Gorst suggests in the following passage. The Maori teachers advised Ashwell to send his visitors back to Auckland; and New Zealand Revisited (1908), pp. 119–129, and in the ‘Letters and Journals of the Rev. Benjamin Y. Ashwell to the Church Missionary Society’ (unpub. typescript, Auckland Institute and Museum).]
What most struck me, in this my first visit to Waikato, was the strange contrast between the material poverty and the mental attainments of the people. In all outward signs of civilization of Maories proved to be extremely backward; their houses, clothing, food, and way of eating were of the most barbarous description; but in reasoning, especially on political topics, in making provision for their own government, and for the education of their children, they exhibited unexpected cleverness and good sense. There were at that time numerous village schools (which, unhappily, war and excitement have since swept away), founded and managed entirely by the natives themselves. The school-houses were large and neatly built, and the scholars cleaner, better lodged, and better mannered, than the neighbouring natives. The sexes were carefully separated. The girls wore clean print frocks; the boys blue cotton shirts and duck trowsers. The pupils could invariably answer simple questions on religion, read their own language well, and in some schools showed a knowledge of arithmetic that filled me with surprise. I also passed court-houses, originally built under the guidance of a European magistrate—Mr Fenton [Francis Dart Fenton (1821–98). Native Secretary, 1856; magistrate in Waikato, 1857–8; Chief Judge of Native Land Court, 1865–81. See below, Chapter VI, for an account of his work in the Waikato.]
Soon after we reached the mission-station of Taupiri, it was rumoured that a large war party was coming down the river. The few traders and settlers in the neighbourhood took alarm
A few days later a war-party of about 300 men passed Taupiri in three large canoes, headed by [Tarapipipi, (?–1866), a chief of the Ngatihaua tribe; also known as Te Waharoa, after his equally famous father.] [Tawhiao, or Potatau II (1825–94). ‘Matutaera’ is the Maori form of Methusaleh. His genealogy is published in AJHR, 1860, F-3, Appendix.]
The acquaintance thus commenced with
It appeared to me, even at that time, that the history of this effort of a barbarous people to create a system of internal administration for themselves must be in itself curious and worthy of record. Under a rude form of government of their own invention they had done more for themselves than we had ever done for them. Person and property were as safe on the Waikato as in the town of Auckland. Even during the excitement and irregularity consequent on the Taranaki war, neither traders nor missionaries suffered from violence. Strangers like myself traversed the country without risk. I was informed that tribal wars, which had formerly been frequent and bloody, had been entirely stopped, and that the king's magistrates had successfully put down the traffic in spirits.
When the arrival of Sir [Sir George Edward Grey (1812–98), Governor of South Australia (1841–5); of New Zealand, (1845–53 and 1861–8); of South Africa, (1854–61); Premier of New Zealand, (1877–9).]
A residence of eighteen months in the neighbourhood of Rangiaowhia and Kihikihi, among the most violent of the king's partizans, and the frequent journeys on horseback which I made through the neighbouring districts during that period in discharge of my duties, gave me abundant opportunity of observing the practical working of the Maori king's government. A nearer view revealed its defects as well as its excellences. Constant intercourse with native chiefs of every shade of temper and opinion acquainted me with their own story about the causes of their revolt against our rule, their disposition towards our race, and the reason of their persistently holding aloof from Sir
It appears to me that the story of how a deadly quarrel arose between such a race and rulers so well intentioned cannot be unimportant or uninteresting. But there is, moreover, another reason why this episode in our colonial history ought to be examined. New Zealand has been recently quoted as a proof of the impossibility of civilizing barbarous races. It is urged that, wherever the brown and white skins come in contact, the former must disappear, and that the old fashion once pursued by our
Chapter II
Waikato
‘Waikato’ is used indifferently as the name of a river, a confederation of Maori tribes, and the country inhabited by them. The basin which is drained by the great river and its tributaries is occupied by a very large number of tribes, distinct though intimately related. They are divided geographically and politically into three sections—Ngatimaniapoto, Ngatihaua, and a group of small tribes called Waikato, over which Ngatimahuta, the king's tribe, is dominant. The name Waikato is, however, often applied to the whole confederation which the three sections have formed, not only by the colonists, who do not trouble themselves about nice tribal distinctions, but even by the Maories themselves.
The Maories of the Waikato confederation have been for many years regarded as the most important in New Zealand. Their pre-eminence over other tribes is due not to any intrinsic merit of their own, but solely to their geographical position. Their greatness has grown up with the settlement of Auckland—the richest in the North Island—which lies at their feet, and has been for many years at their mercy. The land on which they live is fertile and difficult to be invaded; while at their backs they have a rugged inaccessible country, a retreat where they can set our civilized armies at defiance. When New Zealand was first colonized, no one supposed that in the end we should have to fight the Maories for the possession of the soil. The early settlers confidently pushed their way into the heart of native
The outsettlers of Auckland are mostly small farmers who live in rough wooden houses, scattered about the country, and surrounded by a few fields. The adjoining land is commonly an unenclosed tract of fern and forest owned by Maories or European speculators. The loneliness of a colonial life forces nearly every man into matrimony, and a family of stout hearty children is the usual result. Compared with Australian or Middle Island squatters, the Auckland outsettlers are poor; in the eyes of their native neighbours they are rich. The cattle, horses and sheep, which form their wealth run at large in the open country outside their fences. If the land is Maori, rent varying between £1 and £20 is demanded for this privilege; and when the title to the land is disputed by different owners it is necessary, in order to enjoy quiet possession, to pay them all. At times the wandering cattle, in their search for food, come upon native cultivations of wheat, potatoes, or green juicy maize, wholly exposed, or defended only by a rickety fence of small sticks tied up with flax. As these cultivations are often remote from human dwellings, the cattle of the settlers may and often do commit a great deal of mischief before they are found out. On the other hand, gaunt long-legged Maori pigs, roaming at large, feed in the settler's potato-fields and root up his grass paddocks, setting hedges, ditches and dogs at defiance. A fence that is secure against a Maori pig is a thing still to be invented. So long as Europeans and Maories continue to farm on antagonistic principles—the one fencing their crops and letting their cattle run at large; the other, tying up their cattle or driving them to other regions, and leaving their crops exposed—there must be disputes when-
The point of the Waikato River nearest to Auckland is between thrity and forty miles to the south. The river, which from its source in the snows of Tongariro has followed a northerly course for about 200 miles, here makes an elbow and turns to the west and south-west, falling into the sea through a narrow opening in the coast line, about twenty miles south of the entrance to the Manukau harbour. At the elbow a swampy creek, called Mangatawhiri, entering the Waikato from the east, forms the boundary between the Government and native land, or, as the Maories have long thought, the frontier of their king's dominions. Mangatawhiri is separated from the open country round Auckland by the Hunua forest, which consists of a range of broken hills clothed with luxuriant wood, stretching from the Hauraki gulf on the east coast to Mangatawhiri, and thence in a westerly direction between the Waikato and the Manukau harbour. The forest is about thirty miles long and ten broad; the soil is a soft clay, intersected by many swampy streams, which in the absence of bridges are almost impassable. There are many English farms and native villages in the forest and on its fringes, and the country is traversed by several tracks, passing through wood so deep that armies might lie in ambush amongst the leafy undergrowth within a few yards of the path. The summer after Sir [Sir
A traveller coming down to the river, from the Hunua forest,
There are two ways of going up the country—by water or by land. The former is very tedious. The Waikato is a broad rapid stream, and canoes must crawl along under the bank, brushing past the luxuriant vegetation, and creeping under dark overhanging trees, to avoid the worst of the current. The river-bed is full of snags and shifting banks of soft pumice sand. About twenty miles above Mangatawhiri, the stream expands to a width of more than half a mile, and becomes so shallow, that, except in time of floods, even the lightest canoes have to plough their way along the sandy bottom, which in places rises so close to the surface that the crews have to jump overboard, and lift and shove their craft across the bar. There is one channel three of four feet deep, even in summer-time; but this is stopped by numerous stumps of trees, formerly growing in what is now the bed of the river. Occasionally it is possible to relieve the monotony of the journey, by getting out of the canoe and walking along narrow tracks leading from one Maori village to another; but the banks generally abound in forest swamps, high fern, and ‘toetoe’ grass, eight or ten feet high, and are intersected by deep muddy tributaries, so that the unwary stranger often finds himself entangled in a maze of vegetation, with an impassable swamp between him and his canoe, and no sign but the shouts of his Maori rowers to tell him that the river is so near at hand. It takes two long days to ascend by water from Mangatawhiri to Ngaruawahia, a distance of forty-five miles; whereas the return down-stream requires only about seven or eight hours of easy paddling. The Waikato natives, therefore, before the recent innovation of bullet-proof steamers, were secure from attack by river; while a descent from Ngaruawahia on the settlers in the Hunua ranges and neighbourhood has been always quite possible and easy.
The land route formerly lay along the left, or western bank of the river, but this has now been abandoned for an easier road
The Waikato river and the Waikari lake, between which the road must pass, are here separated by an island of flax, the ground of which is sometimes only swampy, and sometimes entirely under water. The strong stiff leaves form so impenetrable a covert, that the natives are often days in finding cattle and horses that have strayed into it. I remember an occasion when an English girl, who was riding through this flax thicket, preceded and followed by horsemen, missed her way and was lost for an hour, although it does not take ten minutes to cross from side to side. In this island an army might lie hid, invisible and invulnerable, for the flax-leaves will turn a rifle-bullet, and unless completely surrounded by troops on the river-bank, above and below the island, and by boats on the Waikato and Waikari, would have a safe retreat in case of need. In the battle at Rangiriri, the news of which has arrived while these sheets are passing through the press, the Maories trusted too long to the earth-work. A large body had their retreat to the swamp cut off, and were taken prisoners.
The Taupiri range crosses the course of the river obliquely from the north-east to the south-west. It is composed of steep
[toetoe, Arundo conspicua; resembles Pampas grass: tutu, Genus Coriaria.]s. 6d., and sheep, cattle, &c. at regular tariff prices.
From this point the great Waikato plain opens out, bounded on all sides by distant mountains. At the southern and most fertile end are the chief villages and cultivations of the powerful Waikato tribes. The distant hills are their strongholds—refuges in which they could set an invading, or even an occupying, army at defiance.
Ascending the river, which here runs in a strong current at the base of the pretty wooded hills, through which it afterwards passes, Ngaruawahia, the capital of Waikato, distant five miles from the entrance of the plain at Taupiri, is at last reached. Here the river is divided into two branches, of nearly equal size: the Waikato, a deep rapid blue river, comes rushing down from the distant mountains of the south; and the Waipa, a dark sluggish stream, crawls slowly in from the west.
Of all royal towns in the world, I should think Ngaruawahia the meanest, and the least likely to repay the trouble of conquest. The most conspicuous object is a huge flagstaff, the palladium of Maori nationality, by the side of which is the King's house, a common ‘raupo’ [A bulrush, Typba angustifolia.]
Beyond Ngaruawahia, the Taupiri range of hills curves gradually to the southward, and joins a chain of rugged limestone mountains, which runs parallel to the west coast, and rises to its greatest height in the peaks of Pirongia. At the base of these hills the Waipa flows in a singularly tortuous course, following on the whole their direction. It is a very deep river, full of snags; the banks are steep, and covered with rank vegetation. The soil along the course of the river, and especially on some of the alluvial flats between the reaches, is of the richest description. Small villages, with their cultivations, are nearly continuous for a distance of forty or fifty miles up the river. Whatawhata, the largest of these, about twelve miles from Ngaruawahia, though the distance by river is at least twenty miles, is only a few hours’ journey from Raglan, an English settlement on the west coast. However, the limestone ranges between the two places are of so rugged a character, that, although there are several horse and cattle tracks from Raglan to the Waipa, they are considered quite impracticable for all military purposes.
The Upper Waipa is inhabited by the Ngatimaniapoto tribe. This, the largest and most powerful in New Zealand, is also the most inveterate in hostility to the white race. [It was rivalled, in this respect, by the Ngatiruanui tribe of southern Taranaki.] [Rewi Manga Maniapoto (c. 1815–94).]
The numerous streams which unite to form the Waipa river rise in a rugged but fertile country, beyond the south-west corner of the great plain. This picturesque region of deep brooks and wooded hills is inhabited by wild and reckless men, of the same Ngatimaniapoto tribe; and here, deep embosomed in hills and forests, stands the village of Hangatiki, one of their chief strongholds, which has often been proposed as the capital of the Maori kingdom, instead of Ngaruawahia. The Ngatimaniapotos, in their inaccessible homes, are, and feel themselves to be, perfectly secure from attack; and being accustomed, in their visits to Waikato and Auckland, to outrage Europeans as they please, have come to regard us with the most sovereign contempt. I give one illustration of their audacity. A half-caste girl, whose mother was a Ngatimaniapoto of Hangatiki, was in domestic service in Auckland, where she had been educated. The tribe having, according to native custom, a voice in the disposal of all the daughters of their women, wished her to come up the country and marry a native. She refused. Upon this, a party of a dozen went down, carried her off in broad daylight from her mistress's house in the neighbourhood of Auckland, and took her in triumph past our police, our soldiers, and our redoubts, to Hangatiki. It is fair to add that, as she still persevered in her refusal, she was not forced into the match.
The Waikato branch of the river south of Ngaruawahia is a clear rapid stream, flowing at a considerable depth below the general surface of the country. The banks consist of pumice sand, and are high, steep, and quite bare of vegetation. For fifteen miles above Ngaruawahia the land is barren; only one small village, Pukete, is passed. [He does not mention Kirikiriroa pa, the site of the present city of Hamilton. See map.]
Horotiu is a perfectly level plain of light rich soil, with a gravelly subsoil, extending inland from both banks of the river. Detached clumps of trees dotted all over the plain give it a beautiful park-like appearance, while the land between is covered with cultivations and villages, the chief of which is Tamahere, where
The eastern boundary of Horotiu is the Maunga Kaua, a rich wooded range of hills, in which are several villages. It takes three hours to cross Maunga Kaua into the upper valley of the Thames, which is another fertile district belonging to the Ngatihaua tribe. Upon the slopes of Maunga Kaua, looking down upon the Thames valley, is Peria, a large native village, the usual home of Tamihana. Two rivers, the Waiho and the Piako, run down this valley to the Hauraki gulf. The landingplace for large canoes is a day's journey below Peria, with which it is connected by a good cart-road, made by the natives themselves. The produce of the upper Thames valley is carried by this road to the landing-place, thence in canoes to the Hauraki gulf, and there shipped in Maori schooners, or, during summer, in large canoes, for the voyage across the sea to Auckland.
At the south of Horotitu stands Maunga-tautari, a mountain with many lofty peaks, clothed from base to summit with impenetrable forest. The Waikato river sweeps round its base to enter the Great Plain. On the slope of the mountain, high above the river, stands the village of Manunga-tautari, the residence of a powerful section of the Ngatihaua tribe, of which Ti Oriori is chief. The Maories have a proverb that Maunga-tautari
The Taupo lake is reached from the Waikato plain, after a three days’ journey through a most savage and broken country; from a narrow opening at the foot of the lake the Waikato rushes in a deep torrent. At the head of Taupo stands a group of snowclad mountains, called Tongariro, amongst which the river takes its rise. The same name, Waikato, is preserved from Tongariro to the sea: the natives assert that the stream flows through Taupo without mingling its sacred waters with the lake; though, as it enters a muddy glacier torrent, and issues bright and blue like the Rhône at Geneva, one would think they had ocular demonstration to the contrary.
Having thus followed the Waikato and Waipa to their sources, it remains to describe the triangle lying between them, at the southern part of which the best land and densest population in Waikato are to be found. The country is quite level and open, with pretty alternations of wood and lakes, and is intersected by numerous streams flowing into the Waikato or Waipa. The tributaries of the former run at the bottom of deep ravines, scored out in the pumice gravel which lies below the surface, and form the only obstacle to the advance of a hostile army over the plain itself.
Thirty miles to the south of Ngaruawahia are Rangiaowhia and Kihikihi, the largest villages in the Waikato district. Part of Kihikihi belongs to the Ngatimaniapoto tribe, and Rewi, their principal chief, lives there. Indeed, Ngatimaniapoto claims a great extent of land about Kihikihi, concerning which there is a chronic feud between them and the Waikatos of that place and Rangiaowhia. The two villages are separated by the river Mangahoe and a belt of swampy wood not a mile wide, but passable only in the summer season. At other times it is necessary to make a circuit of about six miles along a
On the bank of Mangahoe, close by this bridge, stands a mission station, called by natives Te Awamutu, and by Europeans Otawhao, after an old pa once renowned in the Waikato wars. Here Sir [The present town of Cambridge is on the Waikato river, a few miles above Hamilton. The town of Te Awamutu grew up round the mission station and Porokoru's [The Awaroa stream. Sometimes the Maoris dragged their canoes into the Manukau harbour and took their produce to Onehunga.] [In the Waikato, agriculture and trade with the settlers had been quite extensive in the eighteen-forties and notably thriving from 1853 to 1856, during the boom following the Australian gold rushes. Thereafter, both had declined, following a slump in food prices. Fenton regarded low prices as a cause of the King movement, and wrote, in 1857: ‘A speedy return of high prices of agricultural produce would do much to extirpate King.’ The missionary, John Morgan (as Gorst seems to do here) attributed the poverty of the Waikato Maoris to their neglect of agriculture in order to attend King meetings. The extreme Kingites opposed trading, sowing grass, or breeding sheep and cattle, as undesirable European customs. It should be noted that in most other parts of the country the Maoris do not seem to have become noticeably poorer until the wars of the’ sixties, so that the poverty in the Waikato cannot have been due solely to the depression. (See pa.]Historical Studies, Australia and New Zealand, Vol. 5, No. 18, K. Sinclair, ‘Maori Nationalism and the European Economy, 1850–60’.)]
In truth, the extreme poverty of the Waikato natives is one of the chief obstacles to their subjugation. There is very little in their villages which they would mind losing. Their cultivations, if fenced at all, are only fenced in the rudest and slightest manner; they do not grow live hedges, as the land is occupied but for few years, and they look forward to exhausting it and going elsewhere. They do not enclose grass paddocks, because the wide, open country, in which English grass and clover spread like weeds, affords abundant pasture for their horses and cattle. Their houses are of the very meanest description, being a mere frame of poles covered with bundles of dried flag (called ‘raupo’), with a sliding board for a door and a hole for a window, erected in a few hours, and requiring constant repair to keep the fabric from falling to pieces. The only crops which they house for winter use are potatoes, wheat, and maize. The first are kept in pits dug in the ground, and lined with dry fern; the two latter are packed in baskets of flax, and stored in what they call ‘patakas,’ little wooden houses, standing on posts high above the ground, which are the most valuable erections in the village. The maize is prepared for eating by being steeped in pools of stagnant water till it rots, when it is taken out and boiled. The nauseous mess [It is called kaanga-wai or kaanga-piro, and is still regarded as a delicacy by many Maoris—though it is definitely an ‘acquired’ taste. It is usually made by steeping maize in a running stream.]
On the other hand, the habits and customs of the natives qualify them for carrying on a long-continuous war—which was, indeed, their normal condition before the introduction of Christianity. The soil is so fertile, that, with ploughs and bullocks, very few days’ labour will produce food enough for the year. The time of agricultural labour is holiday in a native village; the grown men and elders sit lazily amongst the fern, smoking their pipes and discussing the latest manoeuvre of the wily European foe; while women are scraping potatoes to roast with a fat pig in the native oven, perhaps with the addition of a fragrant piece of dried shark, to give a relish to the dinner. Three or four pairs of oxen, driven by stout, clean-limbed lads, are dragging as many ploughs through the rich loamy soil; and smaller boys are following the plough, and putting in seed potatoes; while the children of the village, stark naked, are shouting and rolling about in the fern. In summer-time, you may come upon a threshing-machine, fixed on a sunny hill-top, to which all the oxen and carts of the place are drawing loads of wheat, from which the machine is noisily producing huge piles of straw, whereon the population of the village, except the few who are at work, lie basking in the sunshine, some sleeping, some munching peaches and apples, and some, in knots of two or three, discussing the everlasting King movement, and when the great war with Sir
Having gone through the labour necessary for growing their food, they are at leisure to do what they please, and mostly spend their time in travelling about the country. I have known Porokoru, [Porokoru Titipa, a Ngatimahuta chief.] [Assembly. See below, p. 83.] [Te Paea, of whose great prestige and influence Gorst often speaks in the pages following found a worthy successor in modern times in the person of Princess
The feeling of the people on this subject was clearly expressed to Sir [Tipene Tahatika (or Tahitika) of the Ngatimahuta tribe.]
Chapter III
The Queen's Sovereignty
[This was how it appeared to the Governor—Gore Browne—but it would be more accurate to say that the Governor interfered to deny a chief (The claim of the Queen of England to exercise the rights of sovereignty over the natives of New Zealand is founded on the Treaty of Waitangi. This treaty was made at the Bay of Islands, in 1840, between Captain Hobson, the first Governor of New Zealand, and the Ngapuhi chiefs, and was afterwards hawked about the country to be signed by any chief who could be persuaded to do so: each man who signed got a blanket. According to the Maori version of this treaty—which differs from the English text, of which it purports to be a translation—the Queen of England guaranteed to the Maories the full chiefship over their lands and other property, and the chiefs yielded to the Queen the right of buying such plots of land as the owner might please to sell. They also gave up to the Queen the whole governorship over their lands, and the Queen promised them the full rights of British subjects. The word for chiefship is rangatiratanga; rangatira signifies a chief or gentleman, as opposed to a common fellow or to a slave. The word for governorship is kawanatanga, kawana being the Maori way of writing and pronouncing the foreign word governor. It would be out of place to discuss here the sense of making a treaty at all with a people destitute of any government that could secure the observance of conditions on their side. Those only who contrived the treaty can tell how they thought they were binding the Maories by the form gone through; and those only who explained the treaty to the chiefs who signed can tell what success they met with in teaching so
But no claim on the Waikatos can be founded on the treaty, for the simple reason that they never signed it. It was, indeed, taken to Waikato, and six old men put their names to it, and got their blankets. Potatau—at that time the principal chief of Waikato—refused to sign, though pressed to do so. Te Waharoa, a great warrior, the principal chief of Ngatihaua, never signed.
It is quite true that, since the treaty, we have always supposed ourselves to be sovereigns over the Maories, and that, until the ‘king-movement,’ no protest was ever entered by them against the claim. This is not surprising, when it is remembered that the Queen's sovereignty was, in native districts, a thing so purely ideal, that it never clashed with the self-will of the native tribes, nor even with their right to make war on each other. So absolutely was Waikato neglected, that Mr Ashwell stated before a committee of the House of Representatives, that, during nineteen years before the ‘king-movement’ he could not remember more than three or four visits to the Waikato by officials. AJHR, 1860, F-3, p.49. [The extent to which money and goods were distributed in this way is often exaggerated. Pensions to chiefs, for instance, in 1853–4 amounted to only £187, and in 1859–60 to £300. Cf. below, p.124.] AJHR, 1861, E-3A [Gorst's italics].never been visited by an officer of the Government. The residents in these districts have never felt that they are the subjects of the Queen of England, and have little reason to think that the Government of the Colony cares at all about their welfare.’Ibid., 1862, E-1, section 11, p. 36. [Grey suggested introducing municipal institutions among the Maoris in a despatch of 30 August, 1851, No. 121, published in GBPP, 1852/1475. Grey's Resident Magistrate Courts Ordinance, 1846, led to the appointment of a few magistrates.]
During the entire period of twenty-one years nothing like a native service had ever been organized. On this subject Colonel Browne, in the minute above quoted, writes:—‘In the Hudson's
is, and always has been, unable to perform its duty, for want of a sufficient number of agents so trained and qualified for the service required of them. I am therefore strongly of opinion that the Native Department should be entirely remodelled; that a Native Service should be established.… Without some such system the Government will never be able to take its proper part in establishing institutions for the native race, or obtain any real hold upon their confidence.’ Strange words for the Governor of New Zealand to have to use twenty years after the Treaty of Waitangi. In their lack of proper agents the Government had often to send into native districts men deficient in intelligence or character, or in both, who presented most unfavourable contrasts to the many men of unblemished reputation with whom the natives were familiar as agents of the missionary societies. Indeed the missionaries have constantly rendered service to the Government as political agents, both in ordinary and extraordinary times; though they have never been willing to perform judicial and other governmental functions, which they regarded as inconsistent with their duties as missionaries. They have constantly supplied information about the feelings of the natives, and suggestions for their improvement; and have often used their influence with success to prevent disturbances. What the missionaries did not do, was generally left undone. Thus the Government was in most native districts either unknown or known only to be despised.
The measure to which Sir
This ordinance is evidence of the good intentions of the Government towards the native race. Unhappily very few resident magistrates were appointed in pursuance of the design, and those few were almost all stationed in English settlements. It is not so much in contriving as in executing that our government of the New Zealanders has uniformly broken down. Like Shilpi the Builder, we have regarded ‘the tongue as a constructor rather than a commentator.’
In pursuance of the Resident Magistrate Ordinance, several chiefs were appointed, with small salaries, to act as assessors. These men, being without English instruction and guidance, generally set up as independent founts of justice, and administered law with much vigour and little equity. The fines levied on their victims were often so enormous, that it was simply impossible they could ever be paid. Ti Oriori, of Maunga-tautari, whose legal acumen would do credit to Lincoln's Inn, was accustomed to assign an hour to the hearing of each case: when time was up, he promptly cut short the pleadings or the evidence, and gave his decision. In one case where his judgment was palpably wrong, the losing party expostulated after the sitting of the court, and explained the rest of his cause: Ti Oriori said he was very sorry for him, but he never allowed a case to be re-heard. This enterprising judge was very useful to European squatters in the Waikato, enforcing their claims against natives in his own court, and charging a commission on the amount. Heteraka Nera, [A Ngatimahanga chief and government assessor.] [Dr William Harsant, a magistrate at Rangiaowhia until 1857; later at Raglan.]
But though the Government was unable to do anything to cure the state of anarchy which prevailed in all native districts, the progress of colonization did much indirectly to increase the evil.
The Government, having constituted itself by the Treaty of Waitangi sole purchaser of native land, was bound to do its best to supply the insatiable appetite of the rising colony. The interests of the latter plainly required that the Land Purchasing Department of Government at least should be kept in working order, and the watchfulness and criticism of the colonists secured a high degree of efficiency in this part of native government. Before the settlers became sufficiently numerous to excite native jealousy, land was eagerly sold by the Maories. It was the easiest way to acquire money, and the establishment of Europeans in any neighbourhood was thought very advantageous. But the sale of land soon began to lead to quarrels and bloodshed amongst themselves. Wi Tamihana says that they never quarrelled about their lands until we appeared as purchasers. Whether this be strictly true or not, it is clear that our readiness to buy would make land feuds more frequent and bitter. To people with territories far greater than they could occupy, land was comparatively worthless; but as soon as it became possible to exchange land for money, the value in their estimation rose enormously. Old claims were revived, former gifts disputed, and
Afterwards, when from causes shortly to be explained, natives were no longer generally willing to allow land to be sold, it was no uncommon practice for one party claiming a piece of land to offer it to Government for sale without the knowledge of the rival claimants; and though every precaution was taken by the Land Purchase Department, there is no doubt that in some such cases sales were effected. There are several pieces of land in Lower Waikato which have been partly paid for, and are marked down in our maps as the property of Government, which friendly and loyal chiefs assert to be their property, and to have been fraudulently sold. These fraudulent sales, or at any rate the universal belief in them, increased the eagerness of the natives to assert claims to all land in which they thought they were entitled to share, lest while they neglected to do so sales might be effected by others without their knowledge.
In the very rare cases of grave offences committed against Europeans, Government was obliged to have recourse to negotiations for the surrender or punishment of the offender. In cases of this kind valuable assistance was frequently rendered by the missionaries. Potatau, who lived at Mangere, six miles from Auckland, was always consulted in the case of a difficulty in Waikato, and he could generally obtain redress.
Even in the streets of Auckland itself the natives have generally
Having thus shown how little the most elementary duty of a ruler—the protection of life and property—was performed by the British Crown, it remains to describe the action of Government upon the education of the race, taking the word education in a wide sense, not as equivalent to mere schooling, but as including all the instruction and training necessary to fit the natives to enjoy liberty and govern themselves. There is no doubt that every act of every Government has more or less effect upon the character of the governed, but in the case of a country like New Zealand it is the duty and interest of her rulers to institute special and direct measure for educating the uncivilized part of the community. This would have been the more easy task, inasmuch as the Maories were not only willing but eager to accept our teaching upon all subjects, even long after they repudiated our authority as rulers.
The mode in which the New Zealand Government promoted the education of native children was by yearly grants to the Church of England, the Wesleyans, and the Roman Catholics, under whose superintendence schools were established. In Waikato there were three Church of England schools, two Wesleyan, and one Roman Catholic. The Government did not reserve to itself any right to control the spending of the sums which it bestowed. It was merely a subscriber to a large amount, and exercised just so much influence as was conferred by the power of withdrawing the subscription at the risk of affronting the ecclesiastical magnates. It is true that in 1858 a Colonial Act [The Native Schools Act. Some 700 Maoris (out of a population of [One such gentleman was Gorst himself.] [c. 56,000) attended these government-subsidised schools in 1857–8. Cf. below, pp. 128–9.]
The political education of the adult natives was provided for by a newspaper, published in parallel columns of English and Maori, and distributed gratis. Of the stuff thus circulated amongst them as political wisdom, it is impossible to speak in terms of sufficient contempt. If Maories are conceited enough to think themselves wiser in State-craft than ourselves, the dreary columns of the [ [A chief of the Te Ngaungau Maori Messenger
Te Karere Maori. Gorst's description of this bilingual periodical was amply justified.]hapu of the Ngatimahuta. There was another chief of that tribe called Pukewhau living at Waitutu—which may explain the mistake.]
To promote the social advancement of the Maories, presents were made to them of ploughs, horses, and flour-mills. It may be questioned whether it was wise to give such things, rather than let them be earned by honest labour; but the policy of keeping the natives quiet by bribes to the chiefs, required gifts of some sort, and ploughs and horses were certainly better than money, which might have been spent in rum. A far more hurtful practise was to lend money to favourite chiefs, which was rarely and unpunctually repaid. [This was not true during Grey's first governorship. Between May 1851 and October 1852, £1,506 was lent to Maoris. By the latter date the £1,119 which was due had been repaid. (Historical Studies, Australia and New Zealand, loc.cit.)]
The possession of ploughs, carts, and mills, has not, on the whole, improved the character of the Maories. The effect has been to enable them to grow produce for their own consumption, and for the purpose of purchasing the few European articles they need, in less time and with less trouble than before; to abridge the hours of labour, and increase their leisure. This leisure they occupy in endless ‘runangas,’ or public meetings, at which their grievances are the chief topic of discussion. A little civilization has made them idle, and idleness has made them mischievous. These bad results have, however, been slow in showing themselves, while the material prosperity and increase of wealth were immediate and apparent. Rangiaowhia, in particular, became, many years ago, the scene of extraordinary prosperity. An English labourer was established there to teach agriculture; mills were built, carts and ploughs were given; roads were made; vast tracts of land were cleared of fern, ploughed, and covered with beautiful crops of wheat. Better houses were built—even a brick oven was constructed, to bake bread for the village. The natives, delighted with the prospect of becoming wealthy, gave eight hundred acres of their best land to support an industrial school, where agriculture, tailoring, shoemaking, and various
The Government were warned, by one of their own officers, of the danger. Mr [Charles Oliver Bond Davis (1817–87); Maori interpreter and scholar; the friend of many leading chiefs. Few Europeans knew the Maoris as intimately as Davis.] AJHR, 1860, F-3, p. 21. [Apparently written in 1858.]‘The natives generally consider themselves an independent nation, and not amenable to British law. They discuss this subject with great seriousness, and many of the tribes are warmly advocating the election of a Maori king, who will, it is supposed, be able to settle all their grievances, and quiet the troubles of the land.
‘It may be asked, What is being done to lessen the discontent which prevails everywhere among the native people? The influence of the missionary bodies, in regard to the Maori population, has ceased; at present it is a mere shadow. The influence of Government is daily becoming less, owing, in a great measure, to our want of system. It is altogether a mistaken notion to
Chapter IV
The Revolt
When the English first began to settle in New Zealand, they had little reason to fear that the natives, who were continually quarrelling and fighting among themselves, would ever become united, and therefore formidable. Before our arrival, the Maories lived in a state of continual warfare; and the first use made of the newcomers by the Ngapuhi tribe, among whom the earliest settlers planted themselves, was to obtain from them a supply of guns and ammunition, with the help of which they invaded Waikato, and drove their ancient enemies with great slaughter to the upper districts and hills. Lower Waikato remained for long afterwards an uninhabited wilderness, the former inhabitants not daring to return to their ravaged homes. After a time, the Waikatos also obtained guns and powder; they could then encounter their enemies on equal terms, and, after several bloody battles, the Ngapuhi invasions of Waikato were discontinued. Disunion was exhibited not only in battles between distant tribes; even in the same village, and amongst near relations, there was rarely unanimity on any one subject. Maories are, in their opinions and sentiments, the most independent people in the world, and exhibit an individuality which would delight Mr
There was great variety in the modes in which the progress of colonization affected tribes and individuals, and also in the light in which they regarded the conduct of Government; but the ultimate effect produced was uniformly a strong discontent, and a desire, amounting to a passion, for separate and independent nationality. The cause of what is called ‘the king-movement’ has been much disputed among New Zealand politicians. The fact is, that there has been no single cause. Different sentiments attracted adherents, who joined in the scheme with different views; and as one set of motives after another was in the ascendant, the character of the movement itself was continually changing.
‘Thou shalt in anywise set him king over thee, whom the Lord thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee which is not thy brother.’ ‘The king by judgment establisheth the land.’ [ [The meeting was held in late December 1856 and apparently continued into January 1857. (Reported by Governor Gore Browne in despatches of 17 December, 1856, No. 130; 27 March, 1857, No. 32; GBPP, 1860/2719.)] AJHR, 186:, E-1B, p. 19. [This quotation—like many in c. 1790–1862. The leading chief of the Ngatituwharetoa.]The Maori King—varies considerably from the published letter. Often Gorst gives his own translation.]
It was not, however, the bloodshed in war only that made the urgent necessity for some kind of law. The teaching of Christianity had destroyed the old barbarous customs of tapu, and all the superstitious reverence for priests and chiefs, which had supplied the place of law and government; but neither the missionaries nor the Government had been able to substitute a better system in the place of that which had been pulled down: thus the natives were left in a state of absolute anarchy, where every man did that which was right in his own eyes. Europeans of the lowest class settled among them, enjoyed equal licence, and—far out of the reach of magistrates and police—sinned with impunity, propagating all sorts of evil among their native neighbours.
I give as an example, a detailed account of one matter which natives like Tamihana considered a grievance. One of the most lucrative articles in which the Pakeha-Maories [Pakeha-Maori, a European living with (and perhaps as) the Maoris.]
It is not likely that amongst the New Zealanders, or any other people, many would be wise enough sincerely to desire order and laws, and though we cannot doubt that this was the real design of some who promoted the King movement, it was certainly not that of all. Many of those who joined in Waikato, and most of those who joined from tribes out of Waikato, did so because the King was to hold the lands of his adherents upon trust not to permit sales to the Crown. Unwillingness to sell land has gradually grown up amongst the natives. With some it is unwillingness to sell at all; with others it is unwillingness to sell on the terms prescribed by law. No feeling of the kind existed at the outset. [Anti-land selling sentiment became general after c. 1848, but some chiefs, including my Pakeha,’ and the tribe called him ‘our Pakeha.’ He traded with them, procured them guns, helped them in their wars, promoted their importance, and was at the same time dependent on them for protection, and completely at their mercy. If the Englishman was a gentleman and a capitalist, he was a consumer of surplus produce, an employer of any young men who took a fancy to do a day's work, an example of civilized life and agricultural enterprise to the ambitious, and all his greatness and grandeur were their possession and redounded to their credit. But as the number of Europeans increased, these relations were altered; a sale involved parting with the dominion of the soil; towns sprang up, inhabited by strange and powerful white men, who neither knew nor cared for the original proprietors. If the native visited the spot where he was once lord and master, he found himself insignificant and despised in the midst of a civilization in which he did not share. The hopes of social advancement which the natives had formed when they first consented to share their country with the stranger, were disappointed. They did not fail to contrast the rapid alienation of their land with the slow improvement of their condition, and they feared that at this rate their lands would be gone before they had attained the desired equality with their white neighbours. Every function of Government seemed paralysed in comparison with the Land Purchasing Department. They were willing to sell their land for civilization and equality, but at no other price. Despairing of obtaining these boons from Government, the desire to withhold land altogether became nearly universal, in order to check the aggrandizement of that power which might hurt them as an enemy, but did not much benefit them as a friend.
Besides this deep-rooted feeling, which made almost all natives dislike selling for any price, or in any manner, there were particular objections felt to the mode in which land-buying was conducted. In most cases the Maories thought themselves cheated in the price. The average Government price was sixpence per acre; From 1850 to 1861, 6,000,000 acres of land were bought from the Maories in the North Island for £160,000 which is at the rate of 6 2/5d. per acre. AJHR, 1861, E-1K. [Until 1853, Crown land was sold at £1 per acre; thereafter, under an Order-in-Council, at 10s. per acre, or 5s. for poor land.] AJHR, 1860, E-1C, p. 17. [F.
The immense number of conflicting claims to almost every piece of native land has already been noticed. One of the earliest settlers in New Zealand thus describes the disputes incident to a purchase in former times: A Pakeha Maori [ [abyss.]Old New Zealand, 1863, p. 76 ff.i.e. there were no rats to catch, except, indeed, pakeha rats, which were plentiful enough; but this variety of rodent was not counted as game. Another claimed because his grandfather had been murdered on the land, and—as I am a veracious Pakeha—another claimed payment because his grandfather had committed the murder! Then half the country claimed payments of various value, from one fig of tobacco to a musket, on account of a certain wahi tapu or ancient burying-ground, which was on the land, and in which almost every one had had relations, or rather ancestors, buried, as they could clearly make out, in old times, though no one had been deposited in it for about two hundred years; and the bones of the others had been (as they said) removed to a torere
As time went on, the task of buying native lands grew more and more difficult. Claims were made, not for the purpose of getting a share in the price, but to stop the sale altogether. Such claimants were not to be bought off by money. Natives are hard
[In August 1856 [
Takerei, the greatest landed proprietor in Waikato, when asked by a Committee of the New Zealand Assembly to give an account of the origin of the ‘King movement,’ replied as follows:— AJHR, 1860, F-3, p. 109. [Takerei Te Rau-Anaanga (1816–78) of the Ngatimahuta tribe.]
‘The people sought a protector for themselves similar to yours. You have a Protector. They proposed to elect a King for themselves to protect them, to be a “mana” The English word most nearly corresponding to ‘mana’ is ‘power’. [It also has the connotations of ‘prestige’ and ‘influence’.]
It must not, however, be supposed that all natives desirous of stopping the further sale of land became adherents of the King. The desire was almost universal Land-leagues existed out of Waikato, and before the ‘King movement.’ Wi Kingi of Taranaki was head of an independent land-league, [It is true that in Taranaki, and elsewhere, Maori nationalists attempted to form land leagues, but these efforts were unsuccessful until the election of the Maori King. The King movement was a ‘land league’. There seems to be no evidence to support the notion—which was population the eighteen-sixties—that [Waata Pihikete Kukutai, a Ngatitipa chief and a government assessor.]The Maori Land League (Auckland, 1950), and The Origins of the Maori Wars Wellington, 1957).]
The chief cause of the younger and less thoughtful Maories joining the ‘King movement’ was the consciousness that they were regarded by a large majority of their white neighbours as an inferior and degraded race. Even men like Tamihana, who had other and more sober grounds for their disaffection, were powerfully influenced in their conduct by this mortifying reflection. Their political inferiority had been shortly before made clear to them. A Constitution had been conferred on the colony of New Zealand, framed, as Mr Chichester Fortescue [(1823–98), Under-Secretary of State for Colonies 1857–8, 1859–65.]
At the same time, the opinion of the law officers of the Crown, to whom the question of the right of Maories to exercise the elective franchise was referred by the Duke of Newcastle, [5th Duke of, (1811–64); Secretary of State for the Colonies, 1859–64.] AJHR, 1860, E-7. [The first such inter-tribal meeting met at Manawapou, in Taranaki, in April 1854—a month before the first General Assembly. These Maori meetings were not merely imitative, but grew out of the tribal runanga.]
They were still more painfully conscious of their social than of their political inferiority. To view men whose skin differs in colour from our own as ‘damned niggers,’ is a weakness of our Anglo-Saxon character, which proves our civilization and Christianity far from perfect. It destroys all chance of our gaining the affections of our native subjects in any part of the world; for uncivilized men will forgive any amount or kind of wrong sooner than a single personal insult. The Maories are exceedingly sensitive of any appearance of personal slight. I once heard a company of them discussing the character of a most estimable missionary, the only drawback to whose usefulness is, that he has a stomach so delicate that he cannot eat food prepared by natives. This was the very point in his conduct with which those whom I overheard seemed most impressed. Nothing can exceed the kindness and respect with which men like Sir Southern Cross, an Auckland newspaper which usually advocates a ‘physical force’ policy, used to be regularly taken in at Ngaruawahia and read aloud by a native girl who understood English perfectly. No doubt its opinions were considered to be those of the Government and the whole English race.
Books on New Zealand have never revealed the shameful extent to which half-caste children, both legitimate and illegitimate, have been abandoned by their European fathers. Desertion of wives and children is only too common throughtout the Australian colonies, where the ease with which a man can shift himself out of one jurisdiction into another, makes that the easiest way of getting rid of an unpleasant burden. In a native district, where there is no chance of knowing when the father means to abscond, and no magistrate at hand to appeal to for even a maintenance order, desertion is especially easy, and has been largely practised. In every village in Waikato these abandoned little half-castes are to be seen running about wild, like dogs or pigs, growing up in filth and barbarism, inheriting the vices of both races and enjoying the care of neither. What is done for them is not generally the work of the civilized and Christian European, but of the savage half-heathen Maori. The mother's relations give food and an occasional ragged shirt, and treat the children on the whole with kindness; but they feel the wrong and dishonour done them by the white man, and it does not increase their love and respect for the white man's race. I well remember one pitiable object—a poor, pale, stunted lad of
AJHR, 1860, E-1C, p. 17.The frequency of examples of desertion, most shameless and heartless in themselves, has tended to lower the character of the Europeans generally in the eyes of the natives, whose clannish ideas are too apt to convert the sin of the few into the act of the multitude.’
At the close of this catalogue of Maori grievances, I must, to avoid misconstruction, state that I am quite aware there were wrongs on both sides, and that the European race has had just grounds of offence against the Maori. My reason for not enlarging upon these here is, that the cause of the King movement, with which we have now to do, was the sense of wrong felt by the natives for what their side had suffered; of the wrongs they had done, they were, like mankind in general, unconscious. At the time the King was set up, the hostile feeling was not nearly strong enough to create a desire for war, but there was quite enough to make the mass eager for separation and independence, and to this the easy and repid success of the King party is to be attributed.
The above were, so far as I have been able to ascertain, the feelings and sentiments floating in the minds of the natives at the time when the proposal to set up a King of their own began to be agitated. Some may have been influenced by one cause, others by another, but all tended to produce a common sense of discontent. Once possessed of a common grievance, it became the obvious interest of all to sink minor differences, and combine
Chapter V
Potatau, the King
[ AJHR, 1860, F-3, p. 20. [The ‘friend’ was At the beginning of 1857, while affairs were in this crisis in Waikato,
The fruit of this resolution was the following circular, which was sent about the Waikato district:—
AJHR, 1860, E-1C, p. 3. [Te Kereihi was a Ngatimakuta chief at Paetai; Harapata a Ngatinaho chief at Meremere; Ruihana a Ngatikarewa chief at the Waikato Heads; ‘Toma’ may be Toma Whakapo; Waata Tengatete has not been otherwise indentified.]‘February 12th, 1857.
‘To all Waikato,
‘This is the agreement of Ngatihaua, for Potatau to be king of New Zealand:—
‘Friends—Our desire is great that Potatau should be set up in this very year. Do not delay. Hasten the assembling of the “runangas!” Hasten the establishment of the scheme, and when it is done the documents will be collected, and the day will be fixed for instituting him. Be speedy. You will write to the remote tribes that they may hear.
From Wiremu (Tamihana) Tarapipipi, and all Ngatihaua, to Waikato, to Kereihi, Pukewau, Harapata, Toma, Ruihana, Waata Tengatete.
‘Be speedy.’
This was not the first proposal for the election of a king, nor the first nomination of Potatau to the office. The desire for a king had existed for six or seven years previously: the only difficulty was to find some chief to place on the throne who would be accepted by all. A meeting attended by 1,600 natives had just been held by Te Heu Heu at Taupo. Much mystery had attended this national gathering. A platform had been erected, on which was the inscription—‘Look to the land; look to the sea.’ At this meeting it was distinctly proposed that
[Also known as
When the assent of Ngatihaua, the natural supporters of Wi Nera, had thus assured Potatau's election, an unexpected difficulty arose from the old man's reluctance to accept the office. ‘I am nothing but a snail,’ he said. ‘What can a snail do?’ He declared he would be an arbitrator between the tribes, in their land quarrels, but nothing more.
At length, he was persuaded to be present at a meeting of all the Waikato tribes, summoned to Rangiriri, in April, 1857; the avowed object of which was to install him King of New Zealand.
The Government was at last aroused from its lethargy to a consciousness of the dangerous excitement which prevailed. Colonel Browne determined to attend the Rangiriri meeting in person. AJHR, 1860, F-3, Appendix A. [
After this, the Governor rode to Rangiaowhia. At the entrance of the village he was saluted by a discharge of fire-arms, and welcomed in a loyal address. Thence he was conducted to a native house, where an abundant repast had been prepared for him and his followers, who by that time were numerous. In the
[J. M. Garavel, a Catholic priest who taught at a school for Maori boys at Rangiaowhia until May 1860. He then went to Sydney where he died in the late eighteen-seventies (The Month, (Auckland), 15 January, 1920; AJHR, 1862, E-4, p. 5).]
On his return to Rangiriri, the Governor arrived at the same time as Potatau. The natives who had already assembled, including the principal chiefs of the Lower Waikato, made speeches to the Governor, in Potatau's presence. They asked for runangas, a European magistrate, and laws. To these demands the Governor assented; he promised to send a magistrate to reside on the Waikato, who should visit the native settlements, and, with the assessors, administer justice periodically. He also promised to have a code of laws framed, applicable to the circumstances of the natives. All the men then took off their hats, and cried ‘Hurrah!’ AJHR, 1860, F-3, p. 46.
After this meeting, Colonel Browne returned to Auckland, fully persuaded that the determination to elect a king would be
Meanwhile, the great meeting at Rangiriri was going on. The following account of it is abridged from The Southern Cross, of June 5th, 1857:—The guests were mustering for several days at Kahumatuku. The last to arrive were the Ngatimaniapoto. On Friday, May 10th, the whole body started down the river, at a tremendous pace, to Rangiriri, twelve miles distant. About fifty canoes conveyed the guests. The entertainers were about equal in numbers: several Europeans were with them. After the usual reception, Ngatihaua formed four deep, and, proceeding to a large open space, planted in the centre the flag of the new dynasty. This was white with a red border and two red crosses (symbols of Christianity); upon it the words ‘Potatau, King of New Zealand.’
Saturday was devoted to eating and drinking. The bill of fare included bullocks, sharks, baskets of fresh and dried eels, baskets of patiki and mataitai, bags of sugar, kits of potatoes and kumeras, [patiki, flounder; mataitai, sea-food—probably shell-fish; kumara, sweet potato.]
On Monday, the 11th, business commenced. The number present was about 2,200. Their tents and houses extended for about three-fourths of a mile. About ten o'clock the open space
On Tuesday, at ten o'clock, a long procession appeared from the southern end of the town, headed by Ngatihaua, bearing the King's flag. The Maories composing it were dressed in black cloth suits. They planted the flag as before, and arranged themselves in long rows on one side of the open space. The leaders and chief speakers were in the centre, each man provided with paper and pencil for the purpose of taking notes. There they sat for half an hour. At last, the Union-Jack was displayed on a little hill, about a quarter of a mile off. Another soon appeared, further inland. Presently a procession started from the hill, headed by Waata Kukutai, bearing the flag, and occupied part of the opposite side of the square. Immediately after, another body advanced, bearing flag No. 2, joined the other party, and both flags were planted opposite to that of the King. The third side of the square was filled by natives who had not joined either party. At the fourth side appeared the native teachers, headed by Hoera and Heta. [Heta (Seth) Tarawhiti, a teacher at Taupiri; ordained and admitted to deacon's orders 1860. He was one of the Ngaungau hapu of the Ngatimahuta. Hoera (Joel) Toanui, a teacher at Kirikiriroa and a Ngatihaua chief. According to the Southern Cross report, Hoera ‘occupied a sort of moderator position’ at the meeting.]
Proceedings now commenced by Heta reading prayers, including that for the Queen, and Hoera gave a short discourse on temper and moderation. The following were the most remarkable speeches:— [The Southern Cross report is published AJHR, 1860, F-3, p. 118 ff.; cf. another report, ibid., p. 143 ff.]
[Paora Te Ahura, a Ngatihaua chief.]Paora.
[A chief of the Ngatihinetu tribe.]Takirau.
Wiremu Nera.—I am a small man and a fool. Ngatihaua, be not dark, Waikato listen, Taupo attend. My name has been heard of in the old day, and sometimes it is still mentioned. I am going to speak mildly, like a father. My word is this, I promised the first Governor, when he came to see me, and I promised all the rest, that I would stick to him, and be a subject of the Queen. I intend to keep my promise, for they have kept theirs; they have taken no land. Mine was the desire to sell, and they gave me the money. Why do you bring that new flag here? There is trouble in it. I am content with the old one. It is seen all over the world, and it belongs to me. I get some of its honour! What honour can I get from your flag? It is like a fountain without water. You say we are slaves. If acknowledging that flag make me a slave, I am a slave. Let me alone.
This speech made a deep impression, for Wiremu was the most renowned warrior present; it was followed by half an hour's silence.
Wiremu Tamihana.—I am sorry my father has spoken so strongly. He has killed me. I love New Zealand. I want order and laws. The King can give us these better than the Governor; the Governor has never done anything except when a Pakeha is killed. He lets us kill each other and fight. A King would stop these evils. However, if you don't like the King pull down the flag. Let Rewi pull it down if you wish it.
Rewi stepped forward without speaking, and in anger took the King's flag, threw it at the foot of the Union-Jack, and sat down again.
[A chief of the Ngatimahuta.]
Waata Kukutai.—Let the flag stand, but wash out the writing on it. Let us not talk like children, but find out some real good for ourselves. We cannot do it by ourselves. The white men have the money, the knowledge—everything. I shall remain a subject of the Queen and look up to her flag as my flag for ever and ever. If you follow your road you will be benighted, get into a swamp, and either stick there or come out covered with mud.
Tarahawaiki got up again, rather angry, and the meeting was becoming excited, when Hoera called out, ‘Let us pray.’ All were silent, and he read prayers, and the proceedings terminated.
On Wednesday, stations were taken as before.
[The white egret, Potatau Te Wherowhero appeared on this day, surrounded by his friends, and occupied the fourth side of the square. After prayers he spoke as follows:—Wash me, my friends, I am covered with mud. Love gospel and friendship. Ngatihaua work, continue to work. The KotukuEgretta alba modesta.]
[Hona Papita, John (the) Baptist; a chief of the Ngatihinetu tribe living at Rangiaowhia.]
Te Heu Heu of Taupo then spoke with violence, enumerating the causes of quarrel which the Maories had against the Europeans; the indignities shown to chiefs by the lower orders in the towns, their women debauched, men made drunk, chiefs called ‘bloody Maories,’ &c. He advocated total separation of races and expulsion of Europeans by force. He was at last stopped by some of the chiefs, and compelled to sit down.
[A nephew of Wiremu Nera.]Hemi Putini
Paora placed the King's flag about a yard from the Queen's, and tied them together, then marked a ring in the ground round each. Rewi deepened the ring. Kukena, uncle of Potatau, then came forward, and amidst a dead silence, lowered the flag halfmast, and tied it to the Union-Jack.
[Tipene Tahatika of the Ngatimahuta.]Tipene.
After a few more speeches and songs, the meeting separated.
On the following day the King's flag was despatched to the tribes in the south, to summon them to a larger meeting, which should either induce Potatau to accept office, or appoint someone else in his stead.
The whole party then adjourned to Ihumatao, a native village on the Manukau, about eight miles from Auckland, where a second meeting was held, at which the same men were present and made the same speeches. [This meeting was in May-June 1857.]
This meeting was not attended by any agent of the Government, but the Bishop of New Zealand, Mr Buddle, [
After the Ihumatao meeting, Wiremu Nera and most of the loyal natives, as well as Te Heu Heu, visited the Governor in Auckland. But even the former in all their conversations insisted on the maintenance of a distinct nationality. All evinced jealousy of the Assembly, and a strong desire for one of their own. The friendly party wished for their own Assembly and a King, but all were agreed on the maintenance of a distinct nationality. A letter was also received from
The Governor was at last thoroughly roused to a sense of danger. He felt that the establishment of a distinct nationality in any form, would end sooner or later in collision; and that, if the agitation for a king were persisted in, it would bring about a conflict of races, and become the greatest political difficulty we had yet had to contend with in New Zealand. For these reasons he considered it highly important that the European population should in future be as little scattered as possible. Instructions were given to the Land Purchase Commissioners to endeavour to connect and consolidate crown lands, and to make no new purchases of isolated lands without special authority. But this course was adopted too late. The actual intermixture of crown and native territories throughout the North Island, and especially on the Waikato frontier, and the general unwillingness of the natives to sell more land, made such consolidation impossible. A clear line of demarcation between the territories of the rival nations could not be obtained without war and conquest.
At the same time it was confidently hoped by the Governor himself and the Colonial Ministry, that Mr Fenton's mission would allay the excitement, and avert the dangers to be apprehended from the election of a king. This mission and its results will form the subject of the following chapter.
Chapter VI
The Justice on Circuit
These journals are printed AJHR, 1860, E-1C.The duty which Mr Fenton was sent into the Waikato district to discharge was of such importance, and his own narrative of his proceedings reveals so much of the actual state of native feeling at that time, that I shall try to give the reader an abridgement of Mr Fenton's voluminous journals, even at the risk of producing a disjointed story.
On the 13th of July, 1857, the new magistrate of Waikato left Auckland, with a Maori companion, carrying ‘200 lbs. weight of books, paper, and ink.’ On the way they met a Waikato chief, named Huirama, [Te Huirama Tiakiawa, a Ngatimahuta chief; killed at the battle of Koheroa, 1863.] [Hone Kingi
Passing on, without further incidents worth mention, the new magistrate and his companion arrived at the village of Taupari,N.B.—Taupari must not be confounded with Taupiri.
Waata Kukutai and a friend were to be assistant-magistrates; an old gentleman named Po, [A Ngatitipa chief.] [
The court at Taupari was held in an unfinished house, roofed with tarpaulins. One end was fitted up with seats, desks, and docks for the magistrates, witnesses, and suitors, separated by a wooden rail from the general public. From the slowness of witnesses and the vast amount of impertinent matter introduced, the three cases occupied an entire day. One witness was a boisterous old Maori chief, a great orator. [His name was Ruhiana.]
A village council, which was to have followed the court, was stopped by rain. From the same cause Mr Fenton could not get his Maori friends to turn out and paddle up the river in time for the next court at Tuakau. The magistrate was four hours behind time, and the defendant in the only case, a European, tired of waiting, had left the place; whereupon the Maori
On reaching Paetai, Mr Fenton found a capital Court-house finished. The timber for the posts and rafters had been all adzed smooth, and the roof was lined with reeds; but the desks and internal fittings were very inconvenient, and there were no doors or windows, such articles being beyond the power of Maori workmanship. The place where the great King meeting had been held was then covered with springing wheat. After issuing his writs, the magistrate had to turn carpenter and work for two hours at the fittings of his court-house. In the interval between his arrival and the opening of the court, one of the native defendants ran away to the hills to avoid service of a summons. The only other case was one in which Pukewhau, the principal chief of Lower Waikato, was plaintiff. This was so intricate that Mr Fenton could not see his way through, and was obliged to order it to stand over till his return.
Still continuing to ascend the river, Mr Fenton, at Mr Ashwell's Mission Station, met with Takerei, upon whose cooperation the chance of influencing Upper Waikato mainly depended. There appeared to have been a schism at Takerei's village of Whakapaku, between himself and his relatives, who were ardent supporters of the Maori King. Takerei had threatened to leave the place and establish a new settlement a few miles off, at Karakariki. He also complained that a donation of £40 had been made to Porokoru, an old warrior living at Otawhao. This gift excited Takerei's jealousy, for he did not understand why the Government should give money to a man who stood on the Maori King's side at the great Paetai meeting.
From Taupiri Mr Fenton went up with Takerei to Karakariki, where he was kept talking till midnight. The next day being Sunday, service was held in a native house, small, full, and stifling with heat and smell. In the evening there was a meeting about establishing a new settlement, where law and order could be carried out without interruption. Mr Fenton thought it better not to attend, but heard them talking far into the morning. Takerei however came to call him at an early hour, saying that all expected him to speak upon the subject. He therefore went to them and said that if their relatives persisted in forbidding the entrance of law into Whakapaku, they could do nothing but leave the place and establish a new settlement. The law could only be carried out where all consented to obey. In the early days of New Zealand Christianity, it had often happened that the Christian party was obliged to set up a separate settlement, but gradually the Maori party joined them, until the old pa was abandoned. So it would have to be in extreme cases now. Finally, he advised them to be careful to select a good site and lay out their village in a regular way. After this advice they requested him to take the entire management of the migration. Mr Fenton said he did not approve of Karakariki, as the land was not very good, and there was no firewood handy. So they all got into canoes and paddled about the river, landing at several places, none of which however seemed to combine all the advantages they required. At last they came to the Maka, a splendid flat of several hundred acres, covered with fern and koromiko, surrounded by forest containing many kinds of trees. Mr Fenton approved of that place, marked out a line for the houses, with space between each, and directed the court-house and church to be placed in the centre, and patakas and stores in the rear: all the houses were to face the river. Having thus provided for Takerei and his brother malcontents, he proceeded on his circuit.
The next place visited was Whatawhata, where the people
No cases were tried at Whatawhata, and Mr Fenton paddled down again to Karakariki. There he found
Mr Fenton had heard from Takerei that the great Ngati-
Before returning to Auckland, Mr Fenton visited the Ngatihaua tribe, who were energetically working, under
Mr Fenton wrote in reply, that he would not go unless the people collectively would agree to accept and abide by the law, and wrote to invite him, as otherwise he might find his orders disobeyed. Subsequently, although no invitation came, Mr Fenton, after thinking deeply over the question, resolved to go, as if on a private visit to Ti Oriori; since it was most important to see the disposition of so powerful and intelligent a tribe. He found the current of Waikato above Ngaruawahia very rapid, and it was hard work to paddle a canoe against it. It was dark before he had reached Te Rapa, where he sent a messenger to Arikirua to fetch Ti Oriori. The people at Te Rapa told him that the boy said to have been murdered was still alive, and the magistrate went to bed, uncertain what to believe. Next morning, however, three men, riding from Arikirua to Whatawhata, called at the village. They said that Ti Oriori was too ill to come to see Mr Fenton, and that a large meeting was to take place that day to discuss the alleged murder. The victim was said to have been killed by three priests, who, while going through certain incantations over the boy, got into a passion,
Mr Fenton stayed all day at Te Rapa, but no message came to him and no one asked him to remain longer. There was evidently a bad feeling amongst the Ngatihauas. Speaking of their mill which had been broken and become useless, ‘Yes,’ said one, ‘the Pakehas are a humbugging people.’ Two or three men came to Mr Fenton privately and said they were tired of agitation but dared not say so, as the multitude had resolved that all the Queen's friends should leave the territories of the King and live on the Queen's land. So Mr Fenton returned from his attempt to visit Ngatihaua without any result good or bad.
On the way back to Auckland Mr Fenton again visited Paetai. He found the natives alarmed and excited by a visit from Huirama, who had just returned from his visit to Auckland, where he had succeeded in getting blacksmiths and carpenters to build his mill, though Government had not given him the expected help. He told the Paetai people that they would be driven from their lands if they did not recognise and subscribe for the King. This had made them very uneasy. They asked Mr Fenton—‘What are we to do if the King party commence to carry out their threats by force? are we to resist? If we protect the Governor's dignity, will he protect us? Which side affords us the best chance of quiet? If we join the King, we know the Governor will make no difference in his behaviour to us, but if we join the Queen we are not certain that the other party will be as indifferent.’
A few cases were heard at Paetai, and that difficult case of Pukewhau's was again adjourned for further evidence.
The hardships of the journey, constant wet, indifferent food, and talking instead of sleep at night, subjected Mr Fenton to a violent attack of influenza, which compelled him to return speedily to Auckland, and confined him to his room for many days after arriving there. The entire journey had occupied rather more than six weeks, and did not produce the expected effect of inducing the natives to abandon their design of electing a king.
As the result of experience acquired in this journey, Mr Fenton made three practical proposals to the Government:
(1) Maories never cultivate the same piece of land for more than a few years successively; they then abandon the half-exhausted soil to weeds. At every village visited, Mr Fenton found acres of land covered in this way with dock: he proposed, therefore, that the Government should advance a quantity of grass-seed, and get the Maories to sow it upon the cultivations immediately before they were deserted, so that they might thereby be converted from mere noxious wildernesses into pastures. The magistrate's attention had been particularly directed to a great piece of land stretching for three-quarters of a mile, from Mr Ashwell's Mission Station down the west bank of the Waikato, about 300 or 400 yards in depth, and hemmed in and sheltered towards the south-west by the mountains which form one side of the gorge through which the river flows. The place was free from fern and native growth, having been under cultivation during that same year. Mr Fenton had taken the pains to ascertain the names of the owners, and to obtain their consent to the place being sown with grass-seed supplied by Government, the cost of which was to be repaid by instalments. The matter was looked upon by the proprietors as a settled arrangement, and they accordingly prepared to execute their part of the engagement. This scheme was, as appears from Mr Fenton's own narrative, regarded with jealousy and dislike by many natives, and the fear of provoking a quarrel was the reason assigned by Government for not performing what Mr Fenton had promised. It is true that land-buying which provoked many quarrels was not suspended from the same humane motive, but there is a clear difference between the two cases. In the latter we were pursuing our own interest; in the former, only that of our native friends.
(2) Mr Fenton's efforts to introduce law and civilization among the Maories soon led him to the conclusion that some power was necessary to enforce obedience to the decisions of magistrates. He thought it would be very unwise and a dangerous imperilling of such prestige as we had, to attempt to enforce civil procedure in the European manner; but proposed that either the Governor or the Magistrates of the district should call a meeting of native assessors, at which even such men as
(3) Experience showed that the practice of the native office in conducting correspondence and other business directly with the natives, without referring to or informing the local officer, was a source of many evils. In the first place, there was often an actual conflict of authorities. Pukewhau was sent for to Auckland on the very day when he ought to have appeared as a litigant before the local officer under pain of having his case dismissed. Moreover, when the natives discovered that the district authority had little or no influence with the Governor, his power as an officer was materially diminished, and respect for his decisions decreased proportionally. At the time when Mr Fenton was magistrate of Waikato, it was most important to throw as much power as possible into his hands, because the political department of Native Government in Auckland had become entirely absorbed in the Land Purchasing Department, so that every political event was estimated by its tendency to aid or hinder the acquisition of land. Moreover, the local agent of necessity always knew more of facts and people in his own district than persons resident in Auckland. Even the Governor himself cannot obtain reliable information by direct intercourse with the natives. When a Maori is in the Governor's presence, it is difficult to get him to tell out plainly his thoughts, fears, and wishes. He generally sticks to safe generalities. Polynesian politeness forbids the introduction of any topic known to be disagreeable to the person visited. In Mr Fenton's days, the Maories visiting Auckland were possessed of two fears—first, of offending the Governor; secondly, of offending the Native Department. Mr Fenton therefore proposed that all ordinary business transacted with the natives of a district should pass through the local officer's hands. It is hardly credible that so simple and obvious an administrative reform, though often talked of, has never down to the present day been practically made.
After the establishment of the new Circuit Court, the next phase in the history of the Government of the Maories was a departmental battle between the New Zealand Ministry and the Native Office. The Colonial Ministry had at that time much less share in the management of native affairs than they now possess. They had a mere right to be informed by the Governor of what he proposed to do, and to give their opinion thereupon. [The ministers were able to exercise considerable influence over Maori policy because the Assembly had to approve of the expenditure on Maoris (beyond the £7,000 set aside on the Civil List for that purpose) and to pass legislation affecting them. Cf. below, (Ch. IX.)] [Robert Reid Parris (1816–1904), then a land purchase agent in Taranaki.]protégé of Mr Richmond, from whom he received all his instructions, and at whose suggestion he had been appointed in preference to another person, recommended by the Native Office.
Mr McLean thought he had good grounds for objecting to much that was being done in the Waikato district.
The loyalty of Mr Fenton's adherents was far more a love of prospective gifts and salaries than of law and order. The Queen party were abandoning their cultivations, and all other useful industry, and were talking of nothing but being made
AJHR, 1860, F-3, p. 8.
From these various causes, Mr McLean gave in the following official opinion to the Governor:—‘The most distant recognition of any adverse party to Potatau in his own district, would be attended with results more injurious to the real interests of the Europeans than any other step that could be taken; not only from its giving an undue prominence and appearance of stability to the position he proposes to assume, but from the paucity of the numbers, and subordinate character and position of those tribes which would alone follow such a course—in which, moreover, they could be retained only by influences of a mercenary nature.’Ibid., p. 126.
In consequence of this representation, Mr Fenton was removed from the control of the colonial ministers, and placed under the orders of the Native Department, of which he had hitherto been the rival and the critic.
At the beginning of 1858, Mr Fenton was permitted to make another circuit in the Waikato district, where he was instructed to confine himself entirely to his judicial duties as a magistrate. On this visit he had the further task of taking a census of the native population. [He organised the first Maori census. See F. Observations on the State of the Aboriginal Inhabitants of New Zealand (Auckland, 1859).]
The first place visited was Tuakau; but as the court-house was not finished, and the excuses of the people for their delay were unsatisfactory, no justice was there administered. At Taupari there was no business to do; Waata Kukutai had disposed of all the cases before the English magistrate's arrival. The court-house was completed except the windows. Waata
The task of taking the census caused the magistrate some uneasiness. A stupid woman told the people that he was writing down the names of King's people, and Queen's people. He was afraid this would do harm in the unquiet districts; but he pacified them by saying that he merely wanted to know the numbers and distribution of the people, so as to arrange the court-houses conveniently.
At Kahumatuku, a court was held and two cases tried. In one, an action for slander, the defendant was Whakapaukai ( [Fenton described him as ‘a boisterous Maori of the old school’. (AJHR, 1860, E-1C, p. 31.)]Anglicè, Gorging Jackie), the most impudent and bare-faced robber in the Waikato district,
Several of Mr Fenton's native friends told him that the census was sure to cause misunderstanding among the tribes of the interior. Waata Kukutai had been engaged to accompany the magistrate, but it was now thought better to send the loyal chief back, lest his presence should excite suspicion.
Passing on to Ngaruawahia, Mr Fenton found the King's house already built, and an opposition house a few rods in front. Another tribe was building a third house, and there was some talk of not allowing the King's flagstaff to be erected. The opposition was headed by Wiremu Nera, who had an old grudge against Potatau about land on the West Coast, which was the real reason of his opposition to the King party. Nera's tribe
At Whatawhata there were many cases awaiting trial. When the business was disposed of, some very young men made a complaint against the native magistrates. After a patient hearing, Mr Fenton found that (apart from some slight mistakes, resulting from ignorance or inexperience), the conduct of the magistrates had been good and firm, and that the complaints arose from the dislike the young people felt to the restraint under which they were held. They said they were quite willing to submit to the decision of the court when the European magistrate presided, but the native magistrates were not so good. Mr Fenton found at Whatawhata that the census would not be of much value, as far as the proportion of children was concerned, from the vague ideas of Maories as to the age at which a person becomes adult. Only the infants were put down as children; boys and girls were classed amongst the adults.
On this occasion, Mr Fenton, in company with Takerei, ascended further up the Waipa than he had done on his former circuit. They were much annoyed at being constantly stopped by parties of natives, who insisted on presenting them with cooked food. The houses and people were very miserable.
At Kopua, where there is a Wesleyan Mission-station, the people expressed their desire for law and their willingness to build a court-house, and a promise was given that they should be visited in future circuits. Thence Mr Fenton and Takerei ‘poled’ up the shallow river to Awatoetoe. The people of this place pressed the magistrate to consent to the erection of a court-house and the establishment of law. But they were told that the place was too remote to be included in the regular circuit of the European magistrate. They replied that they were the Queen's subjects, and had a right to have law administered among them; that this necessity was so strongly felt, that great numbers of the Maories were trying to find out a way of governing themselves, for every one felt that murders and wrongs must be stopped among them as well as among the Europeans, but they did not wish to join this party, which was ignorant and principally led by old Maori chiefs. This place was
Mr Fenton overheard some people saying that the King party were organizing policemen and soldiers to repress disorder, but the conversation dropped when they saw he was listening. He thought the objects of the agitators were too little understood in Auckland. The agitation seemed to him to be simply the effort of a people wishing to be governed, to govern themselves in default of anything better.
When the subject of the census was introduced, the people of Awatoetoe told Mr Fenton that he would get no information higher up in the central district of Ngatimaniapoto, and that his presence on such an errand would cause great uneasiness.
Next day there was a meeting and a feast. The banquet consisted of eels and pork. More mention than usual was made of the King. After the feast, Mr Fenton formally consented to their building a court-house, but would not promise that any magistrates would visit them regularly. In the evening there was a meeting about a disputed eel-weir; the magistrates declined to act, when called upon, on the ground that the dispute concerned land. It was as well they did, for Ngatimaniapoto had taken possession with an armed party.
Next day the ground was marked out for the court-house, and Mr Fenton went away, collecting his census papers as he pulled down to Kopua. One tribe would not make any return, as they thought the Governor wanted to know how many men there were, that the Pakeha and Ngapuhi might come down to fight them. The Maories in this Upper Waipa country were in the lowest stage of poverty; their houses, clothes, and everything belonging to them, were most wretched. They had nothing inside their houses and little outside, and expected to have to eat fern-root during the winter. The mill had not turned its wheel for five months.
Mr Fenton doubted whether he should thence visit the large villages of Rangiaowhia and Kihikihi, but as the people there knew he was in the neighbourhood, and had not asked him to go, he took it as a broad hint to stay away, and stayed away accordingly.
At Mr Ashwell's Mission-station, he had a long interview
At Paetai a meeting had been held in Mr Fenton's absence, at which it was resolved that he should discontinue circuits and live there permanently, or else that some other European magistrate should be appointed to live at Paetai. The people offered any quantity of land,—the idea being that the magistrate could occupy his spare time in farming. This offer he was, of course, forced to decline. At Rangiriri there was a land-feud going on, in which he refused to adjudicate. The native magistrates here were beginning to complain of the weight of their labours, saying they would soon be the poorest of their tribes.
Only once during his term of office did Mr Fenton venture to send a Maori to gaol. A native stole linen from a dwelling-house in Auckland, escaped up the Waikato, and took refuge in the hilly country about Pirongia. Two of Mr Fenton's probationary magistrates went after him, caught him, and brought him down to Kahumatuku, where he was tried, sentenced, and sent in charge of native police to Auckland gaol. His friends, who had vainly offered money to atone for the crime, were very angry, and complained of the magistrate's conduct. Wiremu Nera, to whose tribe the culprit belonged, told the Government that it was very rash to take such steps in the district, and that it was fortunate the man belonged to his tribe, as, had he belonged to any other, a collision would have been inevitable. He himself felt aggrieved that he had not been first consulted. As the hunt had been so successful, Mr Fenton wished to reward his two probationers as an example, and therefore recommended
I have told this story to show how completely the Native Department had reduced the Waikato magistrate to a state of subjection, and how the official mind, even at the antipodes, cannot restrain itself from those petty jealousies, which, however harmless in a highly civilized society, are fatal folly in the government of a half-savage race. Shortly after this occurrence, Mr Fenton was altogether relieved of his functions, and the field was left clear for the Maori King.
Thus ended the first practical attempt to govern the Maories. To extinguish Mr Fenton was no doubt a great triumph for the Native Department, but has since turned out rather a costly one for the British Empire. The abortive measures of the Government made the revolt of the Waikatos much more complete than if nothing had been done at all. The Maories know as little of our domestic intrigues as we of theirs. It appeared to them that the Governor had made promises at the Paetai meeting which had not been fulfilled. The King party were encouraged in their turbulence and claims of independence by seeing how evidently the Government was afraid of them, and those who desired to see law and order established amongst them at last lost all faith in their British rulers, and characterized their conduct as ‘maminga,’ or, in plain English, ‘humbug.’
For example, in 1858, a chief of Paetai, named Honi Kingi, was deputed by several tribes to see the Governor as to the delay in carrying out what had been promised. He could not obtain an interview. He thought himself insulted. The tribes by whom he had been deputed were of the same opinion, and they soon after joined the King party, of which they had previously been determined opponents. AJHR, 1860, F-3, p. 5. [The chief was Hone Kingi
It is useless now to conjecture what might have been, if the attempt to solve the New Zealand difficulty by active efforts to govern and civilize the natives had been at that time persevered in.
A committee was appointed by the New Zealand parliament in 1860, to inquire into the abortive attempt to introduce Civil Institutions of Government into Waikato. This Committee, after examining all the papers and a large number of witnesses, European and Maori, reported as follows:Ibid., p.3. [Gorst paraphrases and revises the original.]
It is quite clear that Mr Fenton's plans would have required much modification to insure success. To encourage a population in litigation, to teach them to play at courts, and amuse them with the formalities of an attorney's office, could never have led them to civilization. But it was quite possible to gain an influence among them by humouring their enthusiasm in this pursuit, and then to use the influence so acquired to direct them to better things. This, Mr Fenton had already begun to do. He was trying to get an agricultural instructor appointed by Government; he persuaded many to sow grass and take to sheep-farming, and he showed every disposition to promote their social advancement. There were difficulties, no doubt, but no reason for supposing them insurmountable. The worst part of
[Grey, also, relied on it in 1861–3. See below, Chapter XII.] [In the chaotic conditions of the time, neither chief nor runanga was fully in control of tribal life; as Gorst shows later, the chiefs were sometimes followers of public opinion. Fenton would have been obliged to humour both authorities. For his defence against these criticisms, see his memo on the Waikato, Richmond MSS., ADDL. 57. General Assembly Library, Wellington.]
As the European magistrate left the Waikato, Potatau went into it and was duly installed King at Ngaruawahia in April, 1858. [According to AJHR, 1860, F-3, p. 128.The Maori King Movement in New Zealand, (1860), pp. 13–15, and to the Soutbern Cross (11 June, 9 July, 3 August, 5 August, 1858), he was officially ‘installed’ in June. However, he moved from Mangere to the Waikato in March. See Appendix: The Election of the Maori King.]
Treating this great national agitation as nothing, was a policy in great favour with New Zealand statesmen. Mr Fenton fell into a like error. ‘Although I find this King business,’ he says, ‘a nuisance and an obstruction, I always tell the Maories it is nothing, and advise them to take no notice of it.’Ibid., E-1C, p. 27.
Every one acquainted with the native affairs of New Zealand knew from the first that there was real danger, and that any act which the natives should regard as a common grievance would turn the harmless and ridiculous King into the head of a formidable hostile confederacy.
We shall learn in the next Chapter how such a common grievance was supplied to the Maories, without loss of time, at Taranaki.
Chapter VII
The Taranaki War
[Many of the Ngatiawa—including The country of Taranaki had originally been occupied by the Ngatiawa tribe, but in 1834 it was invaded and conquered by the Waikatos and Ngatimaniapotos under their chief Potatau, who at that time went by the name of Te Wherowhero, or the Red Man. The whole land was laid utterly waste; and of the original inhabitants, some fled away into other districts, others were carried captive into Waikato, and only a small remnant, who took refuge in the mountains of Cape Egmont, were left behind.
In 1839, Colonel Wakefield, the agent of the New Zealand Company, determined to buy the rich but deserted territory, and made every effort to buy it fairly. It was first purchased from the exiled Ngatiawa chiefs, who were living on both sides of Cook's Straits; [By the Queen Charlotte Sound deed a few chiefs allegedly transferred to the New Zealand Company in 1839 all the land between the 38th and 43rd parallels of latitude, which included Taranaki. It was a worthless transaction.]
After the arrival of the New Zealand Company's colonists, and the formation of the settlement of New Plymouth, several of the fugitive Ngatiawa, considering that the presence of the
Such of the natives as thus repossessed themselves of their old lands at Taranaki, denied the validity or completeness of the New Zealand Company's purchase; but when the title of the buyers was investigated, in 1844, by Commissioner Spain [
The Commissioner's award was received by the natives with such disappointment and anger, that the authorities became alarmed, and sent off an express to Governor FitzRoy, [ [The great majority of Ngatiawa owners had received no payment for their land.]
When the news of this transaction arrived in England, Mr Gladstone, then Secretary of State for the Colonies, wrote to Governor Grey, who had meanwhile superseded Captain FitzRoy—‘I indulge the hope that you may have found yourself in a condition to give effect to the award of Mr Spain in the case of the Company's claims at New Plymouth; and, in any case, I rely on your endeavours to gain that end, so far as you may have found it practicable, unless, indeed, which I can hardly think
Governor Grey, however, never did find himself in a condition to give effect to Commissioner Spain's award. AJHR, 1860, E-2, pp. 20–22.
To this arrangement, however, the Maories would not assent. There was a good deal of talk on our side about an ‘intention to enforce it,’ and hopes were from time to time held out of the natives giving way, and of the European settlers being put in possession of their lands. But, relying on their numbers and strength, and on the declaration of Captain FitzRoy, the Maories persisted in their original determination to restrict the settlers to the 3,500 acres so ignominiously bought by the former Governor. Exiled chiefs from Cook's Straits, and slaves from Waikato, persisted in returning and taking possession of what they chose to call their own property. Among others,
The Ngatiawa did not, however, prosper on the lands so
[Until the feuds of 1854–8 they engaged in an extensive trade in agricultural produce and were very prosperous indeed.] [The Taranaki feuds began when AJHR, 1860, E-2, p. 27. [His name was Tamati Tiraurau.]hapu. All three had been slaves of the Waikato tribes.]Taranaki Herald, 16 January 1858. [The ‘Rawiri’ killed in this (second) crime was Rawiri Karira.]Ibid., p. 28.Ibid., p. 30.
At length, after many years of bloodshed, [See above, p. 48 note.]
Soon after receiving this notice, Governor Browne visited Taranaki, and made a speech to the assembled Europeans and natives, in the course of which he stated, that he never would consent to buy land without an undisputed title, but that he would not permit any one to interfere in the sale of land, unless he owned part of it. AJHR, 1860, E-3, pp. 19–20.
Of the subsequent investigation into [No official record; but the relevant private correspondence has been preserved. (See K. Sinclair, The Origins of the Maori Wars, (Wellington, 1957), Chapter X).]
The subordinate official who conducted the inquiry, [Robert Reid Parris (1816–1904).]
As to the policy of this war, there can be now no question;
[Most historians who have studied the case have come to the opposite conclusion; so, too, did a Royal Commission in 1927. (AJHR, 1928, G-7.)] [Kingi did, in fact, assert that the land belonged to the whole tribe, not merely to the sellers—the essential point made by Martin and others. (See K. Sinclair, [In1861, when Gorst first met Kingi, he described him in a letter as ‘a pleasant-looking, white-headed old man, of genial and affable manners’. (loc. cit.)]New Zealand Revisited, p. 163.) He seems to have changed his attitude towards the first Taranaki war after becoming a friend of
The real circumstances of the case were such as would inevitably irritate a passionate man to madness. At the time of the original migration of [Kingi also possessed hereditary claims to the land which
It was in consequence of this arrangement that
It seems quite incredible that circumstances so material to the case should have escaped the notice of the officials concerned in the purchase, and have remained undiscovered for three years, until they were accidentally found out, by Sir [These facts were not unknown in 1860. See, e.g., AJHR, 1860, E-3A, p. 3; E-4, p. 13.]
Giving any further history of the Waitara controversy, or expressing any opinion thereupon, is a task which I gladly avoid, as not relevant to my subject. Volumes have been written on the subject, which are certainly calculated to produce a strong conviction on most people's minds that the ‘undisputed title’ which Governor Browne required is not possessed by the Waitara block, and, probably, not by any native land in New Zealand. I pass on to the point with which we are more immediately concerned, namely, upon what grounds, and in what manner, the Waikatos mixed themselves up in the quarrel.
During the year 1859, the Waikato King-party had been putting out feelers in every direction. AJHR, 1860, E-3A, p. 3. [Te Whaitere, a Ngatimaniapoto chief.] AJHR, 1861, E-1, p. 22. [The Ngatiawa lived in north Taranaki; the Ngatiruanui in south Taranaki.]
While these men were still at Ngaruawahia, the news of the outbreak of war at Waitara arrived there. The principles of the King party now required that they should interfere actively to prevent the alienation of land, which had come under the King's ‘mana.’ A southern chief, named Wi Tako, [Wiremu Tako Ngatata (1815–87), a Ngatiawa chief living in the Wellington Province; appointed to the Legislative Council, 1872.]
A general meeting was held at Ngaruawahia in May, 1860, to consider the Taranaki question, and determine whether the Waikatos should join in the war or not. AJHR, 1861, E-1, p. 41.
‘I am disturbed by the letter received from
The whole discussion finally turned upon the question whether the Governor bought the land before or after it came under the Maori King's ‘mana.’ ‘The question is,’ said one of the latest speakers, ‘was the flag first or the money first? If the land was paid for before the flag reached it, the Governor is right, if not, then the matter cannot rest where it is. If the mana and flag went before, we must contend for our land.’
Mr McLean, the Native secretary, who attended this meeting on behalf of Government, gave a very clear account of the Waitara purchase. He was listened to with great attention, and his speech was apparently producing a great effect when Te Heu Heu, of Taupo, rose, and with the remark—‘It is night,’ broke up the meeting.
Many of the Waikato chiefs were heard to say that Mr McLean's words were quite correct. Old Potatau also corroborated his statements, and was very angry with Te Heu Heu for so rudely interrupting the speech. The Ngatihaua offered to light large fires, that he might have an opportunity of completing his statement that night, for they had resolved on other grounds to leave the meeting early the next morning. Unfortunately this offer was not accepted, because Mr McLean fancied that he would have an opportunity of continuing his statement to the whole assembly by daylight. However, when the morrow arrived and Ngatihaua had gone, he found the other natives so busy preparing to erect a new flagstaff, that they could not be induced to assemble. After waiting some time in vain, Mr McLean struck his tent and departed.
It is not the custom at Maori meetings to pass definite resolutions; indeed, it would be useless to do so, as the majority have no means of forcing the minority to conform to their decision. The only use of these gatherings is to make public opinion heard, so that each man, in determining for himself what he will do, may know what chance there is of being supported therein by comrades.
The speeches delivered on this occasion made it clear that the whole body of Waikato were not yet prepared to back [Epiha Te Hu, a Ngatimahuta chief.]
The poineers of the Waikato war-party were received with intense delight by the Ngatiawa natives. In the first encounter with British troops, they gained a splendid success, contrary to the warnings which they had received from their missionaries and other Pakeha friends, who had prophesied that their martial pride would have a speedy downfall. They beat back an attack upon their Pa at Puketekauere, with a loss to the British side of thirty killed and thirty-four wounded. AJHR, 1860, E-3, p. 49. [Wiremu Hoete Te Kumete.] [Sir AJHR, 1861, E-1A, p. 7.
But though most of the Maori warriors were thus animated
At this crisis the New Zealand Assembly met, in which a large and influential party, composed of the oldest settlers, [The leader of the Opposition in the House of Representatives was
No attempt was made, nor would it indeed have been possible, to keep these opinions and the discussions that ensued secret from the natives. The Governor, it is true, issued a proclamation, urging all loyal subjects to abstain from publishing opinions tending to impugn the justice of the course he was pursuing, but that was not until long after it had become known to the Maories throughout the length and breadth of New Zealand, that in the opinion of the most revered among the Pakehas,
Among others, Wetini, a chief of the Ngatihaua tribe, [Wetini Taiporutu (c. 1814–60).]
In the midst of these troubles old Potatau died. His last days were vexed by the anticipation of evils about to come upon his people. The abusive and threatening language of the Pakeha newspapers had reached his ears, and one of his last acts was to send a message to his old friend, Sir
So soon as it was known that the Waikatos in considerable numbers had joined the Taranaki war, the excitement and terror in Auckland became intense. Ngatimaniapoto had several times distinctly proposed to carry fire and sword into that province, which lay, without troops, exposed, and at their mercy. At length the danger reached its height when the corpse of a Maori, with gun-shot wounds in the head and hand, was found in the woods near Patumahoe, a small native village lying between the Manukau Harbour and the lower part of the Waikato.
The hasty inference, that a Maori had been murdered by a European, spread like wildfire among the already excited natives. Those on the spot were with some difficulty pacified by the officers of the Native Department, and prevailed on to abandon their original intention of making a promiscuous onslaught on the neighbouring European villages to avenge their countryman's death. But no sooner was the danger of attack from the natives of Patumahoe over than a fresh alarm was raised as to the intention of the Upper Waikatos. It was just the case in which the King party felt bound to interfere. Their union had been ridiculed by the Governor as ‘child's play,’ and here was an opportunity for showing that they had the resolution of men. The only question they would entertain was, whether there were sufficient grounds to fix the crime on a European; should that be proved, they resolved to demand the surrender of the criminal for trial by them, or in default to declare war.
It was fortunate for Auckland that Rewi and the Ngatimaniapoto had already gone to Taranaki, so that the business fell into the hands of
They stopped a day at Paetai, when the war dance was performed in all its grotesque horror, and the excited natives
[Ihaka Takaanini Te Tihi, a chief of the Te Akitai, a section of the tribe known in earlier days as Ngaoho or Ngaiwi and—by 1863—as Ngatitemaoho. He was a government assessor and keeper of the Native Hostelry in Auckland. He lived at Pukaki, on the Manukau Harbour.] [
Immediately after the Patumahoe affair had been brought to this amicable conclusion, news arrived in Waikato of a dreadful disaster at Taranaki, in which Wetini and most of the Ngatihaua contingent had fallen. Wetini and old Porokoru, who led the party, having reached Waitara eager for battle, sent off a taunting challenge to General Pratt. It ran as follows:—
‘Friend, I have heard your word—come to fight me; that is very good. Come inland, and let us meet each other. Fish fight at sea. Come inland, and let us stand on our feet. Make haste, make haste. Do not delay. That is all I have to say to you—make haste.
From Wetini Taiporutu; from Porokoru; from all the chiefs of Ngatihaua and Waikato.’ AJHR, 1861, E-1A, p. 8.
The challenge was accepted: the combatants met at Mahoetahi, and according to a preconcerted plan, Wetini's party were surrounded by an overpowering force and cut to pieces. Four men only escaped unwounded, a brother of Wetini's fled with a bayonet sticking in his body, which he afterwards preserved as a great trophy, [Paora Toaroto. Portrait in Rev.
The greatest indignation was felt and expressed by the Ngatihaua against Rewi and his men, to whose failure to support them they attributed the disaster. Rewi, on his part, says that Wetini was a rash fool, who would not listen to advice; that he sent him down messenger after messenger urging him to retire before it was too late; that his last messenger actually followed
The fallen chief, who as a dashing leader was a general favourite in his tribe, and was more beloved than even Tamihana himself, was loudly lamented at his home in Waikato. Every evening, for months afterwards, the women of Tamahere met at sunset to raise the ‘tangi’ for the dead, and moaned forth the doleful dirge until nightfall. The traveller riding about the neighbourhood constantly came upon small parties, who, meeting each other, had alighted from their horses, and were sitting in the dust to howl and wail for Wetini.
But the general grief at the terrible disaster, so far from disheartening the Waikato tribes, and putting a stop to their interference in the war, as was expected by many, had the contrary effect of stimulating their zeal; and many who had disapproved of Wetini's expedition were now burning to join in the conflict, and avenge the blood of their kinsmen. Tamihana himself was strongly pressed by his tribe to lead them to battle, but though so far persuaded as to write a letter to the Bishop of New Zealand, announcing his intention of going to Taranaki, he appears to have been still restrained by reason, and did not carry out his design.
But others began to flock to Taranaki, not only from Waikato, but from Tauranga, Rotorua, and more remote places. The Ngatihaua tribe joined in great numbers, and signalized themselves by ill-judged and reckless assaults on the English positions, in which many lives were lost.
At the moment when every one expected that the petty quarrel at Taranaki must inevitably merge in a general war between the two races, the fighting was suddenly stopped by the intervention of
Chapter VIII
Wiremu Tamihana Te Waharoa
The warriors of the Ngatihaua tribe who took part in the Taranaki war continued to be conspicuous for their reckless valour, and the extreme rashness of their imprudent leaders. Reports of disaster came, from time to time, into the Waikato, brought by wounded men returning to their villages, who joined the kinsmen of the fallen in urgently calling upon
Tamihana had succeeded his father, Te Waharoa, as head chief of the Ngatihaua tribe. The latter, a contemporary of Potatau and Wiremu Nera, is still notorious in Waikato for the mingled ferocity and cunning which he exhibited in the wars of the last generation, in which he raised his tribe to great renown. Among Maories, the son does not necessarily succeed to his father's position, unless, in the opinion of the elders of the tribe, his own personal qualities entitle him to do so. Tamihana, however, inherits all the vigorous traits of his father's character in a less savage form. He is just as courageous and determined, and equally diplomatic. He even follows some of his father's whims, such as generally making journeys by night, never telling others when he intends to set off, and delighting to arrive in places where he is least expected. When converted, at an early age, to Christianity, he declared he would never fight again; and since that time, though living in the midst of innumerable
Tioriori, 1863
Having embraced Christianity from conviction, and not from hereditary custom, and being in the habit of constantly reading the Bible as almost his only literature, he argues on religious maxims, and intersperses his writings with Biblical quotations, in what appears to us an unusual degree. It would be a mistake to suppose this the result of cant or hypocrisy. Most of the Maories are exceedingly fond of reading the books of the Old Testament, in which they find described a state of civilization not unlike their own; and though not possessed of the same critical powers as the Zulu Kafirs, they have sufficient intelligence to deduce maxims from both Old and New Testaments, which it is inconvenient to have to reconcile with the theories of our modern civilization.
The chief consideration that constrained Tamihana to visit Taranaki, was the great loss which his tribe had suffered in war, in most instances for want of a prudent leader. It was his obvious interest to endeavour to stay that slaughter of his people, which threatened soon to destroy his own influence and importance. He determined to go, however, not as a belligerent, but as a peacemaker. He did not doubt that injustice had been done to Wi Kingi in the purchase of
The Government, during the whole of this critical period, had no officer of any kind, either resident in, or travelling about, the Waikato district, and were, in consequence, a prey to all the absurd and exaggerated stories that idle gossip might set afloat. So little did they understand either Tamihana's character or his motives in visiting Taranaki, that it was confidently believed that he was forming a deep and wide-spread conspiracy to attack the Auckland settlement; that he had gathered his tribe together for this purpose, that he and Te Heu Heu were only pretending to be on their way to Taranaki to mislead, but that when they had thrown Government off their guard, they would turn round and fall upon Auckland.
AJHR, 1862, E-1, II, pp. 44–5.
Wi Tamihana, meanwhile, quietly pursued his way, and arrived at the Waitara on Monday, the 11th of March. Before entering Pukerangiora, a Pa up to which the British troops had been for months laboriously sapping their way, he halted on the north bank of the river, opposite to the English camp, to which he sent a letter, asking for a truce on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, to give him an opportunity of visiting Te Rangitake (Wi Kingi) and the fighting chiefs: he stated that he was a man of authority, and his tribe would make good his stipulations. General Pratt's reply reproved him for dissimulation, and exhorted him to candour; the truce on Tuesday and Wednesday would be granted, but the peacemaker was warned in strong terms to keep his word, ‘lest he should be known as a deceitful man.’ Upon receiving this letter, it being then late in the afternoon, Tamihana went on to Pukerangiora. On the following morning a white flag was hoisted on the pallisading of the Pa, but as there was no wind to blow it out, the firing of our troops had recommenced before it was perceived. Tamihana sat down
The whole of the next day was taken up in talking over those Waikato chiefs who had already taken part in the war, and who, when Tamihana's pacific designs were announced, cried and shouted against him. The precise arguments by which their views were changed have never been ascertained. Tamihana's own opinion has always been, that the cause of Maori nationality, to maintain which he has made every sacrifice, is not in any way advanced by war with the Europeans. His policy has always been to make a passive resistance to our encroachments, to assert Maori independence by just and lawful acts, and to let our side, if there must be war, be clearly the aggressors. Perhaps it was this view that he urged upon the fighting chiefs. They were, no doubt, the more disposed to listen to him, in as much as all were getting tired of the war. At first it was exciting and pleasant to roam at will over the country from which the English farmers had been driven, and to push even into the outskirts of the town of Taranaki itself, pillaging houses, driving off cattle and horses, and occasionally exchanging a shot with the enemy's outposts, or picking off some foolhardy straggler. But the plunder had been looted long ago, and the war had turned into a very dull and uninteresting resistance to General Pratt's slow but certain advance up the Waitara valley. At any rate, by the evening of Tuesday they were brought to consent to Tamihana managing matters in his own way, and a message was sent to
On Wednesday, a meeting took place between the Waikatos and the Ngatiawa tribe. The proceedings were commenced by Tamihana, who said that he was come to Waitara to tell them the opinions of the other Maories and of the ministers of religion; he had been desirous to visit the fighting chiefs, and particularly
‘No,’ said
‘No,’ retorted Tamihana, ‘they are yours.’
‘No, they are yours.’
‘Why look at a man,’ continued Tamihana; ‘his head is head; his hands, hands; and his legs, legs: you are the head, Waikato is only the legs.’
‘No, you are the head.’
‘No, you.’
‘Yes!’ said Wi Kingi, ‘I am the head, Waitara is mine, the quarrel is mine. There! I give Waitara to you!’
He further declared, in answer to Tamihana, that his gift was free and unreserved, and that he claimed no further voice whatever in the disposal of the land. Hapurona, the fighting general of Ngatiawa, and Epiha and Rewi, as leaders of the Waikato and Ngatimaniapoto contingents, were successively challenged, and publicly announced their assent to the gift, and their willingness to yield the unreserved disposal of the land to [An inland pa just south of the Waitara river.]
A letter was sent the same evening to the general to propose a cessation of hostilities on both sides, and that the land-question should be reserved for the decision of the Great Assembly of the Queen. On Thursday morning, an interview took place between Tamihana and an officer of the Native Department; [George Drummond Hay, a Native Commissioner.] [ [(1775–1850), a Ngapuhi chief; arrested on suspicion of treason 1845, during c. 1768–1849, a famous Ngatitoa warrior; involved in the Wairau ‘massacre’ in which several Europeans were killed; seized and imprisoned (without trial) by Grey on suspicion that he was plotting against the settlers.]
As it was found impossible to persuade the chief to adventure himself into our power, it was at last agreed that his proposal should be sent by steamer to the Governor at Auckland, but the general would not consent to a suspension of hostilities until an answer should be received; Tamihana in vain urged the desirability of saving human life; the general replied that it would be a waste of time, and firing would recommence on the following morning.
On Friday our white flag had disappeared, but that of the enemy was, by Tamihana's orders, still kept flying. The soldiers entered the sap and commenced digging: no opposition was offered. They proceeded to fire upon the Maori pa. ‘Now,’ said Tamihana to the fighting chiefs, ‘do what you please.’ The white flag was hauled down and the war flag hoisted; firing continued on both sides during that day, Saturday, and Sunday. The Maories say that they did not during those days lose a man; on our own side Lieutenant Macnaughten, R.A., was killed and several men wounded. Tamihana took no part in the fighting.
On Monday Mr McLean, the Native Secretary, arrived, and had an interview with Tamihana. He had not brought the Governor's consent to the troops being taken away from Waitara. Tamihana was much annoyed, and asked what he had come for. He thought the Governor was very foolish; however, he would have no more to do with Waitara, he had told all the Maories to disperse; Waitara was left under the protection of the law, and he should return to Waikato forthwith. Mr McLean said that if the various tribes would cease hostilities and disperse,
Tamihana returned from Waitara, mortified and disappointed; he went down with intentions friendly to the English, desirous of distinction no doubt, but of the distinction of a peacemaker; his advances were rejected, he was accused of promoting war and rebellion, he was forced into the position of a belligerent though he had never fired a shot, and he came back under a threat of war. The Waikatos followed him sulkily; Rewi stayed behind to hatch mischief if he could, and succeeded at last in carrying off
In the month of May, a clerk of the Native Office was sent with a letter to Tamihana, reminding him that a portion of his tribe and other Waikatos had, without provocation, gone down to fight at Taranaki, and asking what compensation they intended to make for the evil they had done. Soon after the receipt of this letter, Tamihana began a reply to the Governor in vindication of the Waikato tribes, but before it was finished and despatched, a printed ultimatum from the Governor was brought by an obscure native into Waikato.
This proclamation is especially worthy of attention, because it is difficult to exaggerate its effect on the minds of the natives, and its influence on subsequent events. Its power must not be estimated by that which a similar document would have on ourselves. Maories can generally read, but are furnished with very little literature, except the Bible and a few lesson-books. This fresh and exciting paper, widely distributed and carefully read at their evening meetings, where every paragraph was discussed, had an independent value as a piece of literature; while, politically, it was a distinct revelation of the thoughts and purposes of the Pakeha, and helped to decide that anxious question which was always in their thoughts, when the great war that was to deprive them of their lands would begin.
The proclamation, which was entitled ‘Declaration by the Governor to the Natives assembled at Ngaruawahia,’ was to the following effect. AJHR, 1861, E-1B, pp. 11–12.
‘The Governor,’ says the proclamation, ‘cannot permit the present state of things to continue. No option now rests with him: he has been commanded by Her Majesty the Queen to suppress unlawful combinations, and to maintain Her Majesty's Sovereignty in New Zealand.’
The document then went on to explain what Sovereignty implied:—
On the other hand, the Queen had, by the Treaty of Waitangi, secured to them their lands. ‘By that treaty,’ are the words of the declaration, ‘the Queen's name has become a protecting shade for the Maories’ land, and will remain such, so long as the Maories yield allegiance to Her Majesty, and live under her sovereignty; but no longer. Whenever the Maories forfeit this protection, by setting aside the authority of the Queen and the law, the land will remain their own so long only as they are strong enough to keep it:—might, and not right, will become their sole title to possession.’
Lastly, the Governor, after promising to establish order and laws among them, stated specifically his demands, thus:—
It is impossible to exaggerate the effect which the statements printed in italics, coming from the Queen's officer, at so solemn a time and in so solemn a manner, had upon the minds of the natives.
Hitherto they had cherished a hope that the Queen would sanction their native Sovereign, and be his protector. ‘How do we know,’ asked Tamihana, at a public meeting, ‘that the Governor disapproves of our work? He never said so.’Ibid., 1860, E-1C, p. 21.Ibid., 1861, E-1A, p. 18.
The second passage printed in italics has always been a favourite doctrine with the Colonial Government, by whom it has been successfully revived at the present time. Ignoring the great principles of natural justice, the Government informs the natives that the Treaty of Waitangi is the sole foundation of their right to their lands, and that, but for the obligation of this treaty, the Europeans would help themselves to land whenever strong enough to do so. This monstrous theory has always been a favourite one with English colonists; and the New Zealand settlers have now a rare opportunity, by the aid of the British army, of carrying it into practical effect. The natives had the option given to them of submitting to the Queen's sovereignty, or fighting for the possession of their lands. They knew well enough that the former meant submission to be governed by the colonists; but their proud spirits can as little endure the rule of foreigners as our own, especially when threatened with what they think unjust spoliation if they refuse. Is it strange that highspirited men, like
The first copy of the Governor's declaration reached Tamihana at Te Rapa, and was read aloud by him to Rewi, Epiha,
Maories from all parts of Waikato, and the neighbourhood, began to gather at Ngaruawahia, on Monday, June 3d. The next few days, during which they continued to assemble, were spent, as usual, in talk and eating; and it was not until Thursday that any question of real importance was discussed. On that day the following points were brought forward:—
The first question was disposed of almost entirely by Tamihana himself, who commenced by denying that the flag had ever been intended to do away with the supremacy of the Queen, as the protector of their rights and privileges: it was the badge of an agreement, made among themselves, to part with no land, and to hold meetings which should take cognizance of and suppress evil among themselves. He detailed the good that he considered had resulted from this combination: disputes about boundaries, existing at its commencement, had been set at rest; other disputes of the same kind, that had since arisen, had been quietly arranged; drunkenness, adultery, &c. had been suppressed; and they were now working to put down other evils also, that were still existing. He contrasted the good which had resulted from their combination, with the evil which had arisen from the Governor's taking soldiers to Taranaki. He denied that the flag had ever been the cause of the Waikatos going to Taranaki, but maintained that blood relationship would have driven them to it, had there been no flag. He particularized the relationship between some of the leading Waikatos who had gone to Taranaki and Wi Kingi. He expressed his good will to Europeans generally, declaring that he had never yet fought against them, but had been the means of stopping hostilities at Waitara; but he intimated that, in the event of war being recommenced, he could remain neutral no longer. He ended by saying that when the flag was set up upon any land fairly sold to the Queen, or when it otherwise interfered with the rights of the colonists, then would be the time for the Governor to interfere.
The meeting then proceeded to discuss the second point. The argument used was, that the Queen's troops had commenced the war, had attacked and destroyed
On the third head, it was resolved that the survey of any of the lands of Wi Kingi and his tribe, or the movement of troops to Mangatawhiri, or to any point which would clearly threaten a hostile movement against them, would be, as they expressed it, ‘a call to them to awake out of sleep.’
The result of the Ngaruawahia meeting, was a long letter written by Tamihana to the Governor. He first addressed himself to the question of the right to set up a Maori King ‘One from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee; thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother.’Ibid., E-1B, pp. 13–17. I have altered the translation in cases where the English is too obscure to convey Tamihana's meaning.
‘I will now commence upon another subject. At the beginning of this war at Taranaki, I meditated upon the haste of the Governor's wrath. There was no delay; no time given; he did not say to the Maories—Friends, I intend to fight at Taranaki. No, there was nothing said, not a word.’ After observing that no investigation into the rights of ‘He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city’
He then explained the grounds which had led Waikato to take part in the Taranaki war. He enumerated four. (1) That it was Potatau who fetched Wi Kingi back from Kapiti to Waitara. (2) That some of the Ngatiawa were blood relations of Waikato. (3) They were fetched. They were written for by Kingi and Hapurona. (4) Potatau's word that land-selling should be stopped. ‘These were the grounds of Waikato's interference. If the Governor had considered carefully, Waikato would also have considered carefully; but the Governor was headstrong, and that was why the Waikatos went to help
‘About the murders—my opinion is decided that they were not murders. Look—it was murder when Ihaia killed Te Whaitere ( [Not the Te Whaitere referred to above, p. 91. See above, p. 88.]
‘With regard to the plunder which you say is to be restored—listen to my opinion about that. The Governor was the cause of that. War was made on
This letter was received as a calm defiance. ‘All doubt,’ said the Governor, ‘is now at an end, and it is evident that if the Maories will not submit, this part of the colony must be abandoned by all who will not yield obedience to Maori law, of which the aptest symbol is the tomahawk.’ AJHR, 1862, E-1, I, p. 21. [Gore Browne wished to invade the Waikato, but a secret session of the General Assembly advised that there were not enough troops. (Sinclair, [op. cit., pp. 234–5.)]
Even this slight concession was so unpopular in Waikato, that a storm of indignation arose. Porokoru and others intercepted Tamihana and told him that he might go if he chose, but they would hang him on his return. So vehement was the popular clamour that Tamihana was obliged to yield, and could not carry out his purpose.
It appeared now as if nothing could avert an immediate war of races, when the unexpected news that Sir
Chapter IX
The Interregnum
Among Maories, the prompt execution of a plan alone commands that respect which is paid to strength: hesitation or delay, whatever the cause, is taken as conclusive proof of weakness. Nothing therefore could have been contrived more likely to remove what little respect the Maories still had for us and our proceedings than the two months of inaction during which Sir
Diplomacy had brought the Government and the Maories to a distinct issue. The Governor had announced that unless certain terms were accepted he was commanded by the Queen to make war, and the Maories, after due deliberation, had firmly and absolutely rejected those terms. But instead of the uplifted sword falling, they were suddenly told that Governor Browne was to leave New Zealand, and Governor Grey was to reign in his stead. There is no doubt that many believed we were afraid to strike, and that as they could not be firghtened, we had determined to try to gain our end in some other way.
The task which Sir
At Taranaki actual war was indeed suspended, but not a single point at issue in the quarrel had been settled. When Governor Browne arrived in Taranaki after Tamihana's interference, he found the Waikatos gone and AJHR, 1861, E-1B, pp. 4–5.
In accordance with these stipulations, Mr Rogan, an officer of the Land Purchasing Department, [John Rogan, the officer in charge of land purchases succeeding AJHR, 1862, E-1, II, pp. 20–21.
Mr Rogan, on arriving at Taranaki, went to see Hapurona, who referred him to the Mataitawa natives, saying—‘Go and see Arapeta and the people at Mataitawa. My peace is made with the Governor, as I ceded Onukukaitara, [Presumably his land near the Waitara river.] [A pa south of the Waitara where British troops suffered a defeat in June 1860.]
As for the Ngatiruanui, the second section with which Governor Browne had purposed to treat, they took not the slightest notice of his presence in Taranaki, or of the terms of peace which he dictated to them. They retained possession of Tataraimaka—a detached block of European land about twelve miles south of Taranaki [i.e. New Plymouth.]
The attitude of Waikato was sufficiently described in the foregoing chapter:—their independence and their King they were determined to maintain at all hazards, whosoever the Governor of the Europeans might be.
The difficulty of making peace out of this mass of confusion was immensely enhanced by the impossibility of getting the Maories to believe any professions or promises that came from the British Government. The existence of this profound distrust at the close of the Taranaki war, is a fact supported by overwhelming testimony. ‘I should think it hopeless at the present time,’ said Sir AJHR, 1860, F-3, p. 74.
Every pamphlet, every speech, every report of that time, alluded to the existing distrust as the chief difficulty in any future dealings with the race. The numerous officers sent by Sir
The causes of this distrust of our Government, which is always steadily on the increase, are not difficult to explain. The Maories in the course of their dealings with white men have discovered that the superior information of the latter renders natives always liable to be overreached. This feeling, joined to the extreme dislike which a proud, self-confident man has to be worsted in a bargain, has made the Maories, in all transactions of every kind with Europeans, suspicious and distrustful. Nothing but the most childlike truth and simplicity will gain their confi-
Ibid., 1862, E-1, II, p. 50 off.Ibid., E-10.
It was expected by the New Zealand clergy and others, who
The chiefs of Waikato,
But of all obstacles to the restoration of confidence, the greatest was the necessity of keeping the large body of troops sent out to quell the Taranaki insurrection waiting in the country, in case another insurrection should break out. The expenditure in the town of Auckland, occasioned by the presence of the soldiers, was so great, and was thought to be so advantageous to the citizens, that not a hint of the real sentiments of the natives on this subject was ever allowed to find its way into the public journals, and therefore remained altogether unsuspected by the people in England; neither was it likely that the Government would reveal anything which might deprive it of what all Governments so highly prize—the command of a large military force. But, in fact, the Maories asked themselves the simple question, Why are the troops remaining here? and as they could conceive no purpose except another war, they felt certain that the peace was hollow, and that the Pakeha was plotting some further attempt at coercion. Nothing short of the removal of most of the troops from New Zealand would have convinced the Maories that this was not so.
But though the presence of the troops caused distrust and alarm, it did not overawe the natives into submission. The Maories have never, hitherto, been convinced of our military superiority. What change General Cameron may have effected in their sentiments, it is yet too early to estimate. We have, on the whole, failed in every native war previous to that now proceeding. At first, a ridiculous estimate was made of the forces necessary to subdue New Zealand. It was said that a hundred militiamen could march from end to end of the island, and take every Pa in it. [ [c. 1780–1871), a great Ngapuhi chief and ally of the Europeans.]
Besides the difficulties with which Sir
It is quite evident from the above description of the state in which Sir
But a hindrance, with which the Maories had nothing to do, hampered the Governor in all his efforts, and was at last the immediate cause of the final breakdown. Sir
When the constitution was originally conferred upon New Zealand, the native inhabitants of the country were altogether forgotten. Maories were practically excluded from the franchise and from both Chambers of the New Zealand Legislature, although no special provision was made to secure proper care for their interests. [The franchise, which required the possession of certain private property excluded most Maoris, but they were not quite ignored. £7,000 was reserved on the Civil List for their welfare; the Governor was empowered to decalre native districts within which the settlers' writ would not run. In 1856 Gore Browne exempted Maori affairs from the control of the responsible ministers.]
On the colonial side it was urged that the colonists had a much greater interest in the good government of the Maories, upon which not only their property but their lives depended, than the authorities at home; that the funds for efficient government of the natives would have to come out of the ordinary colonial revenues, the expenditure of which they had a just right to control; and that it was impossible so clearly to separate the interests of the natives from those of the settlers, that they could be entrusted to the care of different departments.
On the other hand, the answer of the Imperial authorities was, that in the first place the honour of the British nation was pledged
The very first colonial ministry that succeeded in firmly seating itself in power, began the agitation of these questions, and it has been kept up continuously ever since. But until Sir
A correspondence took place, in May, 1853, between the then Governor and the heads of the three principal religious bodies in New Zealand—the Bishop of New Zealand, the Superintendent of Wesleyan Missions, and the Roman Catholic Bishop of Auckland. Sir Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives, 1856, A-7.
The valuable assistance was thankfully accepted by all to whom it was offered, but ‘Sir Mr Richmond's Minute. AJHR, 1858, E-1A.
At the earnest request of his colonial advisers, the succeeding Governor, Colonel Browne, ‘consented to devote to the use of schools, the remaining portion of the £7,000 (viz. £1,100) which Sir Governor's Minute. Ibid
Finally, the Governor received the following instructions from the Secretary of State:—
Despatch of Right Hon. H. Labouchere, 16th Devember, 1857.‘So far as public faith is engaged towards particular local bodies for the maintenance of Sir
Thus Governor Browne was left without any funds whatever under his own control, to carry on the government of the natives. [It should be added that in 1858 the ministry agreed to pay the £7,000 for Maori education out of ordinary funds, and came to an agreement with Gore Browne as to how the £7,000 on the Civil List should be spent on administration, for instance to pay for the Resident Magistrates’ courts. It should also be remarked that the annual expenditure on Maori affairs in 1856–60 was approximately double the £7,000 reserved for that purpose. The extra money was voted by the General Assembly.]
The colonists would not consent to vote money for native purposes generally, but only for such specific objects as they
[Rather, there was a stalemate: ministerial measures were opposed by McLean, while the Governor's suggestions were declined by the House of Representatives. (See Sinclair, op. cit., Chapter VII.)]
The British Government had at last become weary of this arrangement, in which the advantage was all on the Colonial side, while the risk was all borne by them; which had, moreover, totally failed to give the Home Government any real voice in the management of the Maories. Sir
It is worth noticing that the contest between the different departments for the government of the Maories began just at the time when the latter were making up their minds to govern themselves. Since then, the influence of the colonists in native affairs, and the determination of the Maories to be separate and independent, have both steadily increased. At the same time, all our efforts to escape from the expensive luxury of owning a colony like New Zealand have been in vain. The cost of the strife between settlers and natives which must be either advanced or guaranteed by the Imperial Government, grows rapidly, and already forms a considerable item in the annual expenditure of the mother country.
Chapter X
Sir George Grey
In the early morning of the 26th of September, 1861, H.M.S. Cossack ran quietly into the Auckland harbour, with the new Governor on board.
A few days later, Colonel Browne took leave of New Zealand, amidst tokens of general good-will. Few persons, acquainted with the native affairs of the colony, attached much blame to the departing Governor for the misfortunes which marked the close of his term of office. The mistakes of his predecessors, aggravated by a vicious system of double Government, were the true cause of a disaster which it was difficult, if not impossible, for him to have averted.
No sooner had the new Governor been installed in office, than addresses of welcome poured in from loyal chiefs of the North and of the South, couched in terms complimentary to Sir
The frightful calamities and the ruinous expense that a war undertaken at that time would have inflicted on the colony,
AJHR, 1862, E-1, II, p. 4.
[Also known as Manuhiri (c 1804–85), a Ngatimahuta chief and a close relative of Potatau.]
Wi Kingi, the hero of Taranaki, was in Rewi's custody at Kihikihi. The people of that village were gaily attired in military caps and coats, and carried rifles and accoutrements taken at Taranaki. Rewi and all his myrmidons refused even to be present at Ngaruawahia to discuss the propriety of sending a deputation to Sir
On the whole, there was little prospect of the Waikatos submitting to Sir
The result of the assembly which
As the Governor would not make war, and the Maories would not submit to the conditions of peace, Sir
Lawlessness was justly pronounced to be the great evil of the land; and the remedy applied was a machinery not for enforcing obedience, but for making laws. Every country has some staple manufacture, and there can be no question that laws are the staple manufacture of New Zealand.
The whole native territory was to be divided into about twenty Districts, each to be presided over by an English Commissioner.
The District was subdivided into a half-a-dozen Hundreds, each of which should select two native magistrates, a warden, and five constables. These officers were to be paid by Government—a magistrate, from £30 to £50 per annum; a warden, £30; and the constables, £10 each, with a suit of uniform every year.
The two magistrates from each Hundred were to constitute the District Runanga, presided over by the Civil Commissioner.
An Act of the New Zealand Assembly had conferred on the Governor and his Executive Council power to make bye-laws in native districts about cattle, trespass, drunkenness, suppression of nuisances, and so forth. [The Native Districts Regulation Act, 1858.]
It is unnecessary to give more than a brief sketch of the system proposed, because the original plan underwent considerable modification before it was attempted to be carried out at all in the Waikato district.
The boon practically conferred on the natives was the distribution of about £2,000 per annum in salaries to the principal chiefs in each district, and the right to pass resolutions on certain petty subjects, which, if approved by the Governor and by the Colonial Ministers, would be, by their proclamation, made into laws. On all the greater concerns of life, they had no power to legislate. It is undoubtedly true, that the need of the natives was not so much new laws, as some controlling authority to enforce obedience to the old ones. There is, perhaps, only one matter on which, for the sake of the Maories themselves, fresh
Tawhiao, the second Maori King
I am quite at a loss to know at which of the numerous law factories in New Zealand a statute to meet the wants of the natives in this particular could have been provided. The King's Runanga at Ngaruawahia, which had the best notion of the sort of law wanted, was not powerful enough to give effect to the idea. The Colonial Assembly was quite unfit for the task. There are few colonial senators who possess any special knowledge of the social habits and wants of natives; the matter did not affect any pecuniary interest in the colony; it could be neither made a party question, nor meddled with except at the risk of giving offence to the clergy; it was, therefore, altogether neglected. In 1857, the attention of the New Zealand Government was called repeatedly to this subject by Mr Fenton, in his official
AJHR, 1860, E-1C, p. 31.Ibid., F-3, p. 112.Ibid.,
While it thus appears that in Sir
The first tribe to which the ‘new institutions’ were made known was the Ngapuhi, at the Bay of Islands. The northern natives, since the rapid progress of colonization had been checked by the destruction of Kororareka and the war of 1848, [Presumably Used for digging Kauri gum.
Upon one point of the ‘new policy’ the Ngapuhi audience insisted on the Governor's being very explicit. This was the amount of salary to be distributed. On this subject many questions were everywhere asked, and the answers given were so satisfactory, that all said: ‘Great is the excellence of Governor Grey's scheme.’
Having thus experimented on the Ngapuhi, it remained to be seen what effect the ‘new policy’ would produce in Waikato. Most of those natives who had acted under Mr Fenton were clamorous to have Sir
Before the feast took place, an opportunity occurred of explaining the proposed plan for the better government of the Maories to A New Zealand bird, like a land-rail. [Genus weka,’Gallirallus.]
At length, after this interval, Ti Oriori arrived in Peria. Tamihana always appeared to have much respect for this man's opinion, though he more than once told me that Ti Oriori was a greedy impostor. The two consulted together, and decided to go over to hold a meeting at Arikirua, in Horotiu, where the greater part of the Ngatihaua were busy putting in crops.
The Ngatihaua tribe assembled at Arikirua very soon made up their minds upon the Governor's scheme. At first they expressed some suspicion that the real object of the plan was to get them to do away with the King. Ti Oriori said that the usual way of catching owls was for one man to shake some object before the bird to attract attention, while his mate slipt a noose over its head from behind; so Sir
After this meeting, Tamihana, observing that in the multitude of councillors there was safety, got upon his horse and rode away to Tamahere to lay the matter before another section of his tribe at that place. On arrival, he sent a message round to the farms and hamlets dotted about Horotiu, summoning the people to Tamahere. At night, an excited crowd crammed itself
At Ngaruawahia a law had recently been passed, forbidding Europeans to enter the village unless by special permission. Ignorant of this innovation, I arrived there next day and sat down to talk with a Ngatihaua chief till
Upon his arrival, the Council of the Maori King was summoned, and the Governor's proposed plan was explained. It was discussed by the chiefs of the Council in the most able and
This great meeting at Taupari, upon which the Waikatos looked as the crisis of their fate, began on the 12th December, 1861, and was continued on several subsequent days. The new gifts of Government were publicly bestowed upon Waata Kukutai's tribe, and that chief was installed as head magistrate of the Taupari Hundred, with a salary of£50per annum. The explanation of the plans to him and his people, and to others who wished also to be loyal and get salaries, occupied much of their time. But the most important event at the meeting was the dialogue between the Governor on one side, and Tipene and Herewini [Herewini of Te Kohekohe.]
The only point brought out by Sir AJHR, 1862, E-8, pp. 3-4.
The second day Sir
‘Having now said these things, I will talk to you with reference to the points of difference between you and the Government, and tell you my news.
‘The first point is, the property stolen from the Europeans. You will remember that this has been demanded to be given up, if you do not wish to be attacked. In my position as Governor,
‘The next thing is about the roads. You seem to think that roads through the country would do no good. I think they would improve the value of the lands through which they pass; and if you think I want to spend money in making roads through the lands of people who don't want them, thereby enriching them at the expense of others, you must think me a fool. In the country of the Europeans, they have to pay the greater part of the cost of the roads before the Government helps them. In the same way, I should be very unwilling to make roads through native land, even if the owners came and asked me to do so, unless they paid part of the money. The only case in which I would pay for them would be, when the roads led to some very distant place, which would benefit other districts, besides benefiting the lands of the natives through which they pass.
‘I will give you an instance of what I mean. I hear Waata
‘I should like to see all the land covered with carts and horses and cattle, and all the people well dressed and flourishing; but I shall not come and cut their throats if they don't like to be so. How should I like to be judged, with a row of dead bodies laid out before me, and one should say, “How is this?—Who slew them?”and I should have to say, “I did, because they were foolish, and did not know what was good for themselves”? Look there (pointing to a heavily-laden bullock-dray passing), would you rather see your women laden with those things? Those men who like their women to be killed with hard work, and who do not like oxen and sheep, why, it is their own look-out.
‘Another thing—you must not think that I shall let travellers, either Europeans or Maories, be stopped and plundered. It is a very serious offence. I shall not make war upon the tribe; but if ever I catch the individual, he shall be punished.
‘Now, the third thing—the King—I will talk about. You heard Waata Kukutai say, I assented to the King and the flag. I must explain what I mean. If a tribe, or two, or three, or more, call their chief a King, and stick up a flag, I think it nonsense, and don't mind it. I think it a foolish thing to do, and that it may lead to bad consequences; but I shall not quarrel with them until the bad consequences come. You must recollect that this King affair is mixed up with many things that ought not to be. For instance, I hear that at the Runangas many things of those people who have plundered the Europeans are present, and I think you should not associate with such wicked people. If I was in the King's place, I would not associate with bad people. I even understand that people who have been receiving pay as Assessors from Government, have been associating with these people; and I think it wrong that people who are paid for putting down robbers should mix with them.
‘In the same way, I hear that the King has been making rules to prevent travellers going about. This is wrong; and if he does wrong things, and he is caught, he will be tried like another man, and punished. I can't help it: you must not misunderstand me: any man may stop people from coming on to his land; but where an accustomed line of road runs from one place to another, no man may block it up. You must be careful not to think that in this matter I shall quarrel with you all. I, as Governor, have nothing to do with it; the cause must be tried by the judge, or by your Runangas when you have them, between the traveller and the owner of the soil. I speak to you as a friend; and as the name of “King” has been mixed with many troubles, and is much disliked by many people, I would get rid of it, and find some other name; and then, with the other chiefs of the district, I will work to establish law and order in the country. If they don't care to have me as a friend, to help them and work with them, they must do without me. I can't help it.
‘I will now speak to you on one other point—the land.
‘I understand that there is a jealousy that I shall buy land from a few people, and take it by force from others; you may depend upon it I shall not do this. Until all that are concerned are consulted, no land will be taken. I will not send peoplè about the country teasing and troubling you about the sale of your lands. I should be a bad man if I did so—particularly in the Waikato—as whenever I have asked you for land you have given it to me. Did I not ask you for the land on which the Mission (pointing to it) stands, and did you not give it? Did I not ask you for land for Mr Ashwell's station, and did you not give it? So also with other places.
‘Now, as I have said so many hard things of you, I must say that I think, in very few countries, men would have so liberally given up land for school purposes as you have done; and in all countries it is said you have in this thing well done.
‘Now I will tell you what I propose to do for the future. I do not mean to say, that in as far as institutions for the maintenance of law and order have not been established in the country among you, your interests have not been overlooked. You must have seen that the Europeans have been allowed to make rules and laws for themselves, and those who made them have been paid for doing so; while the Maories have been left unprovided for,
‘Native magistrates will also be appointed, and people under them, to administer the laws; and all these people that are employed will have salaries, and be paid regularly on the first of each month like Europeans. You will thus see by what I have said, that the way I intend to put down evil is by putting up good, not by employing force.
‘One thing I have omitted to tell you. For each district a medical man will be stationed, and salaries will be provided for the native clergymen or schoolmasters; and for each “hapu” that wishes to put aside land for the support of a clergyman, I will endeavour to get a minister. One of the great evils has been, that there has been no opening for the young men, chiefs and others, who have been highly educated. Now I make all these openings—clergymen, magistrates, doctors, &c.—and a young chief may become one of these, and not have to go to work on his land like a common man, but live like a gentleman.
‘Now don't you say I have not come here to conquer and kill you; I have come to conquer and kill you too—with good. Now I have done, and if any of you want to ask questions about what I have said, I am here to answer.’
After others had spoken, Tipene rose and said:—‘What I shall speak about is, the King, the flag, and the plunder. You formerly were Governor of this Island; and as for us, we were with you. After your departure, we considered that we should raise up a King for ourselves, to stop blood-shedding and repress
‘Land was bought at Taranaki; we heard it was bought improperly, and presently disturbance arose about it. We had not heard that the Pakeha was fighting at Taranaki, until the soldiers had gone on board the ships: then we heard. Now this offence was from the Pakeha; hence we said, we are strangers to one another. We are divided; you on one side, we on the other.’
The Governor.—If any tribe refuse to have your King, will you attack them?
Tipene.—I have not yet heard of any tribe within this island that has refused.
The Governor.—Until you give me a fair answer to that question, I shall think you refuse my words of peace.
Tipene.—This is my reply. I do not know that any are outside. Let me hear it, and then, indeed, I shall say—we are a divided people. But we will not attack them.
The Governor.—If any tribe sells land to us, will you attack it?
Tipene.—No, We shall not consent. We and out land are with the King. We shall therefore withhold it.
The Governor.—If the man wishing to sell his land has not pledged it to the King, will you attack him?
Tipene.—No, he would be a stranger to us.
The Governor.—But if he had, and afterwards altered his mind?
Tipene.—The land will be withheld because he will have been imposing upon us.
The Governor.—What, by force?
Tipene.—No, we shall not strike; but if he sees us with holding it, and attacks us, then we shall strike. He will not be allowed to sell his land, but we shall not assail and kill him; we shall not do as you Pakehas do.
The Governor,—How about the stolen property, the cattle and horses?
Tipene.—My name for that is ‘spoils lawfully taken in war.’
Tataraimaka in possession of the Ngatiruanui.The Governor.—How about the land of the Europeans, on which the Maories have gone?
Tipene.—Is there no Maori land at Waitara in possession of the Pakeha?
The Governor.—What land do you mean? Do you mean the block that was fought about?
Tipene.—I ask you, is there no Maori land at Waitara in possession of the Pakeha?
The Governor.—What land do you mean?
Tipene.—Waitara.
The Governor.—If you mean the disputed land, an investigation will take place.
Tipene.—That is well; let also the other land, Tataraimaka, be investigated.
The Governor.—We can have no dispute about Tataraimaka. That is ours.
Tipene.—Let the man who takes it be tried; that is a good plan for lands which are disputed. Let a trial take place.
The Governor.—The Ngatiruanui are in quite a different position to others. They killed women and children, burnt houses, and plundered. I have not inquired into the matter; but if I were a friend, as you are, going to speak to the Ngatiruanui, I should advise them to give up what they have got, and a piece of land as compensaiton.… Even in distant parts of the world I heard of the conduct of the Ngatiruanuis, and felt ashamed at such things being done by Maories.
Tipene then laid his carved Maori spear at the Governor's feet, and said: ‘Look here. You say there is no cause; I say there is a cause. Will the vibration (striking the head of his spear) stop at the tongue, in the head of my spear? I thought your words of peace were to reach the other end.’ He meant that the Ngatiruanui had been their allies in war, and ought to have the same terms of peace.
The Governor said he did not wish to pursue the subject further at that time.
Tipene.—Very well. Are your questions ended?
The Governor.—Yes.
Tipene.—Then I will ask a question. Are you opposed to my King?
The Governor.—I do not care about him; but I think it is a thing that will lead to trouble. It will be stopped by such means as I have adopted, and will die out.
Tipene.—If the King is brought to nought by your plans, well and good. You say, ‘What is the King to you?’ We say, ‘It is a thing of importance to us.’ And the reason why we say so is this, that we have seen the good of it. The quarrels of the Maories amongst themselves have, for the last two years, diminished; and now, by means of it, many evils that have arisen have been put down without war. And therefore I say, the King is an important thing to us. Now I ask you, Are you altogether opposed to my King? If you consent to my question, we shall then work quietly; for we are not the chief cause of the King, whereas you have the final decision about your own system. So I ask you, Are you altogether opposed to my King? that you may say whether you are so or not.
The Governor.—If you ask me as a friend, I tell you I think it a very bad thing.
Tipene.—It has not arisen from us, but from the whole island. My question still remains unanswered. I ask, in order that the word of condemnation or otherwise may be spoken out. Will you condemn it in anger with war?
The Governor.—I think each chief should come under the Governor; then they could all work with me.
Tipene.—We are not going to pluck out the various tribes that adhere to us. If a man comes to join us, we shall not tell him to stop away. Letters have come to us, and money has been subscribed, from every place in the island (naming the various places, and the sums of money that had come from each). At the present time, while both races are at peace, perhaps we shall be divided, or perhaps we shall be united. Proceed cautiously in working out your plans. The only thing that remains dark is the King. Your own plan is to unite us all.
The Waikatos had expected to get a distinct pledge from Sir
Sir
Many years before, the Auckland provincial authorities had commenced cutting a road from Drury through the Hunua forest to the Waikato river. The road, so far as it was made at the time of the Taupari meeting, was not metalled, the trees had merely been felled, the stumps extracted, and the ground rudely levelled. Except in dry summer weather, the road was a quagmire, through which a horse could only crawl with the greatest difficulty, sinking in most places knee-deep at every step. During the Taranaki war, the jealousy of the Waikatos had been excited at the progress of even such a road as this, and to avoid offending them, the works had been stopped, by order of the Colonial Government, about two miles short of the river-side. Without a road through this forest, it was an idle boast to talk of invading the Waikato country. The Maories well knew this, and accordingly laughed in perfect security at the threats of Governor Browne.
Sir
Chapter XI
Face to Face
The last part of the task which Sir
In the last days of Colonel Browne's Governorship, the Ministry under whose auspices the Taranaki war began, was, after holding office longer than any previous Colonial Ministry, at length turned out by a majority of one. Mr Richmond, who had devoted great labour and attention to the problem of native government, was deposed, and Mr Fox [Sir
When the Duke of Newcastle tried, in the previous year, to introduce a Bill into the House of Lords, providing an
[The Native Council Act, 1860.]
The offer which Sir [This paragraph is very misleading. It is plain from resolutions passed by the House of Representatives in 1860 and 1861 that the House had no desire to accept full ministerial responsibility for Maori policy, but wished ministers to administer Maori affairs, subject to the Governor's powers of initiation and decision where imperial interests were involved. Grey led the Colonial Office to believe that ministers had accepted the full responsibility whereas in their view they had merely undertaken to manage day-to-day departmental administration. The Governor continued, as Gorst shows, to make the chief decisions. These points should be kept in mind in reading Chapter XV below:
It must be confessed that, if in the old arrangement, as regarded the possession of power without responsibility, the advantage was all on the side of the colonists, in the new one it was all on the side of the Imperial authorities. The Governor still remained absolute master of the six thousand British soldiers who kept the natives in awe; not a man could be moved without his express commands. Just as formerly, the Governor was
Mr Fox, on coming into office, had proclaimed to the House of Representatives, as his native policy, that he should insist on a real ‘face to face’ negotiation with the chiefs of Waikato, with the view of removing all points of difference. The dialogue between Sir
The first person whom Mr Fox tried to see was
Very few chiefs were left at Ngaruawahia, and the King was on a visit to the Ngatimaniapoto tribe, who were holding a great Christmas gathering at Hangatiki, far up amongst the hills. Two of those who remained behind, Patara [Wiremu Patara Te Tuhi (1823–1910), a Ngatimahuta chief who edited the King newspaper, [A member of the King's Council and a relative of Potatau.]Te Hokioi; known also as Patara Te Maioha.]
Messengers were sent to Peria, to try to catch Tamihana; but they only found Victoria, his wife, who said that he had gone down to a village near the mouth of the Thames, to settle some land dispute, and she didn't know when to expect him back. So, as it was necessary that Mr Fox should deliver himself of his errand, and negotiate ‘face to face’ with somebody, there was no alternative but to heard the King and the Ngatimaniapoto among the hills at Hangatiki.
The Colonial Prime-Minister was, after a rough ride to Hangatiki, received with marked honour and respect. Somebody had ridden on before to announce the visitor; so that when he came in sight on the road which winds up the hill to the village, a guard of honour turned out to receive him. Forty young Maories, dressed in white breeches and blue coats, with stiff military stocks of cardboard, lined the road on either side, and presented arms as Mr Fox rode between. His horse was taken from him by a Maori lad, and he was ushered into the best house in the village, and asked by a handsome young woman, in good English, whether he chose roast-fowl or sucking-pig for supper. The King was lodged in a house a little detached from the village, and a double or treble line of sentries rigorously excluded all approach to his sacred person. It was Saturday night when Mr Fox arrived, and Rewi appointed Monday morning for a formal conference.
The guard-room adjoined the house in which Mr Fox was lodged, and the evolutions of the royal army were a never-failing source of amusement; bugle-blowing and drilling appeared to go on incessantly from morning till night. The general was a very smart young fellow, one of a party that had been taken over to Europe, a few years before, in an Austrian frigate, the [Hemara, the commander of Reihana's forces. He went to Europe as a sailor; while in Austria he was presented with the press later used to print Novara, which had visited New Zealand on a scientific exploring expedition. Te Hokioi.]
During the Sunday, Mr Fox had a ‘face to face’ interview with Wi Kingi, who coolly denied his identity. It was a common practice about that time to try to mislead the Pakeha as to the persons of the leading chiefs. They were afraid of Sir
On Monday morning, everybody began to collect in the great meeting-house to listen to a speech from Mr Fox—Rewi, with
[Reihana Te Huatare, later known as Wahanui (1827–97).] [At his trial in 1863 (see below, p. 240, his name was given in the Press as ‘Aparo’—Gorst was more likely to be correct than the newspapers—and it was stated that his chief was protégé Wi Kingi, Reihana, Daily Southern Cross, 17 June 1863). The chief of the Ngatiwera hapu of the Ngatimaniapoto was called Hopa (Hobbs).]
It so happened that the King spent the night at a village close by the mission station, and Mr Reid, anxious to give the colonial minister an opportunity of seeing the illustrious rebel, invited his Majesty to tea. The answer returned by his secretary was: ‘Mattie is too ill to come—rather do you send us some
Before returning to Auckland, Mr Fox visited Kihikihi, where many natives were assembled, including Te Heu Heu and several Taupo chiefs, who had arrived to pay a visit to the King. Matutaera and his suite were riding out of Kihikihi as Mr Fox rode in. A deputation had arrived from the Lower Waikato to say that soldiers were actually come out to Mangatawhiri, and were making the road, to the great consternation of the Maories of Paetai and other places down the river. The tribes were assembling at Rangiriri, and proposed to attack the troops at once. The King had sent off a messenger to tell them to be patient, and not meddle with the soldiers, but wait until he came down in person to see what was being done, and take care of his children.
Rewi and the Ngatimaniapoto did not seem to feel much interest in the matter. Roads and troops at Mangatawhiri would not hurt them. They were extremely jovial. A row of eels stuck upon sticks, looking like a hedge forty or fifty feet long, was roasting for dinner, and emitting a most savoury smell. Mr Fox was invited into their meeting-house, and Rewi joined issue with him there, and a tremendous discussion ensued. Rewi attacked all the past acts of the British Government with clever and unsparing criticism, exposing our timidity, selfishness, and arrogant assumption of superiority. It was a regular partisan speech, making out the worst possible case against us, but delivered with perfect temper and good humour, and well worthy of careful attention. I regret extremely that, having no notes of it, I cannot give the substance to the reader. After discussing the ‘King movement,’ we were invited to dine on eels and potatoes. Wi Kingi sat opposite Mr Fox, eating out of the same basket; they had a great discussion over their dinner, about Waitara; the former declaring that no proposals from our Government would be listened to until the troops were taken off the native lands, and the whole left, as
After dinner, Te Heu Heu began a long speech, commencing from the creation of the world, and working slowly on towards modern times, while everybody else went to sleep. At last the orator, reaching the point in the history of mankind at which he had to speak of the relations between Pakeha and Maori, went off as usual into a towering passion, and made such a noise, that all his audience were aroused thereby. Half-a-dozen of the Taupo chiefs, who hankered after the ‘new institutions,’ retired in disgust, saying with truth that Rewi and Te Heu Heu had stopped all chance of their talking to Mr Fox. They sent a message asking for a quiet interview by themselves next day, at which the ‘policy,’ with all its circumstances of salaries, &c. was explained and accepted.
Meanwhile the King went down to Rangiriri, where the Lower Waikatos had assembled in great numbers. A large flag was flying, soldiers were drilling, and the constant horn-blowing and bugle-playing gave a military character to the meeting. The King's more fiery partisans urged an immediate attack; it was far better, they said, to fight it out at once, than to wait till the Governor was ready, and then have to fight on less advantageous terms. But the argument of the moderate party was unanswerable. The Governor's road was made entirely upon Queen's land; the very principle for which they were contending was, that every man should be allowed to do as he pleased on his own land, and therefore, on their own theory, they were bound to let the Governor alone. Maories never go to war without a ‘take,’ [take, root, cause.]
Chapter XII
The ‘New Institutions’
In the midst of the alarm caused by Sir
In the Waikato district, the only existing authority, legislative or judicial, was the ‘Runanga.’ This national institution, which at first was strictly oligarchic, the head chiefs meeting to discuss plans of war, and common people listening with awe and reverence to their speeches, had become the most democratic assembly that can be conceived. Women and children were admitted, and made their voices heard—even dogs and pigs were not excluded.
Mr Hanson Turton, who succeeded Mr Fenton as magistrate of Waikato, in a Report on the Runanga, dated Nov. 20, 1861, gives the following faithful picture of what a Runanga had then become:— AJHR, 1862, E-5A. [Henry Hanson Turton (1818–87), a Wesleyan missionary who retired from the ministry and became a government agent.]‘The Maori Court, or Runanga, was opened. Old Riwai sat as judge. The case, one of “korero-teka” (slander), was introduced, and argued by two young men as “roias” (lawyers), each having received a fee of 10s. The judge was quickly confused by them, and sent to ask me how to proceed. I replied that I was there as a spectator only, and wished to see how such cases were conducted. Plaintiff then began on behalf of her
The Runanga above described was one held in the lower part of the Thames valley. The village Runangas throughout Waikato—and, indeed, throughout all New Zealand—are of the same character. All are a promiscuous gathering of men, women, and children, held in the public sleeping-house of the village, at
Village Runangas were chosen by the New Zealand Ministry as the foundation on which the ‘new institutions’ were to be built. In a Ministerial memorandum on Sir “The Runanga, as at present constituted, appears to be little else than a gathering of the people of a particular village, or “hapu.” Let it continue so, with the limitation only imposed that none but adult males take part in its deliberations. … The jurisdiction of the Runanga should, as nearly as may be in each case, be co-extensive with the lands of the hapu or hapus of which it consists. The Runanga should be empowered to make bye-laws. … All officers, such as assessors, policemen, pound-keepers, &c., being Maories, should be elected by the Runangas, subject to the approval of Her Majesty. … Each Runanga should elect one judicial officer, the assessor. … This officer should act alone in all cases where the Commissioner is not present, subject to the periodical revision, at very short dates, of that officer.’ After speaking of a District Runanga, composed of members elected from the Village Runangas, Mr Fox continues: ‘This branch of the machinery would be new to the natives, and might not, at first, work so smoothly or intelligibly as the simple machinery of the non-representative Runanga.
‘Ministers attach much importance to the gradual initiation of the system, by beginning in practice from the bottom, and not from the top, in the manner which the above suggestions will indicate. … Ministers would hope gradually to work up to all, or nearly all, that His Excellency proposes; but they are convinced that the development of the system must be gradual, and that great care must be exercised in securing a firm foundation. They believe that in the existing Runanga such foundation exists; and therefore it is that they seek to direct His Excellency's attention particularly to that institution, and to the expediency of making it, in practice, the
point d'appui to which to attach whatever other machinery of government it may be considered desirable to organize.’
The introduction of Sir
In the Lower Waikato, most of that small party which had formerly supported Mr Fenton's schemes received the ‘new institutions’ with avidity. The duty of explaining the plan and ‘organizing’ the District was entrusted to Mr Fenton himself; but, as his engagements in Auckland forbade his remaining permanently in the situation of Commissioner, it was arranged that Mr Armitage, [
The first place ‘organized’ was Taupari, where Waata Kukutai was ready enough to fall in with a scheme which promised him the two things he specially loved—money and distinction. The Hundred of Taupari was constituted, and a staff of magistrates and policemen nominated, with salaries amounting altogether to £180 per annum. The Runanga of the Ngatitipa (Waata's tribe) was promptly assembled, and the manufacture of laws commenced. AJHR, 1862, E-9, II, p. 8 ff.No. 3. ‘We agree that the Government should give us eight bullocks to plough the land with. The ploughs we have ourselves.’
No. 5. ‘We agree that the Governor should give us grassseed for our farm; but let it be clean seed—do not let there be any noxious weed mixed with it.’
At a later meeting, the native officers took the oaths of allegiance to the Queen, and a special oath of office. The Runanga then passed further resolutions, asking Government to build them a wooden Court-house, instead of leaving them to build a raupo one for themselves; requiring a blacksmith to be sent to live at Taupari to repair their ploughs; making another application for a gift of bullocks, which they persevered in, in spite of Mr Fenton's expostulation; and finally asking the Governor to send a doctor, an elderly man, who did not mis-
After this exercise of legislative functions, the Runanga proceeded to exercise judicial power. A policeman's wife was brought before Mr Armitage and Waata Kukutai, charged with the offence of having written a love-letter to a young man of another tribe. After a severe examination by Waata, she was cautioned, and the police were directed to return her to her husband.
At a village called Te Kohekohe, a few miles above Mangata-whiri, a second Runanga was organized, composed of a very small section of Ngatimahuta, the tribe royal. Among these few people a sum of £180 a-year was spent. [
But while the new plans were allowed to be carried on without active opposition in Lower Waikato, in the Upper District the Government was not so fortunate. [Gorst was the magistrate there.] [Patene Poutama. In reporting this incident, Gorst said he was equal in rank to Rewi. At the trial of Aporo, Patene said his [Marsden Clarke.]hapu was Ngatihauro (Daily Southern Cross, 17 June, 1863).]
It turned out afterwards that the chiefs of the King's party had notauthorized Patene's expedition. They admitted that his conduct was very wrong, and some of them wrote to Rewi, to keep his tribe in better order, and stop all further violence. Patene was very angry when he found that his zeal was so ill-appreciated. He said he had been trying to carry out a law which had been universally agreed to; but now that his act had been condemned, he should never allow the magistrate to be driven away, and should resist any one who might try to do so at any future time.
The chiefs who thus interfered to prevent further violence from Patene, liked Sir
The only result that appeared to be gained by the presence of a magistrate at Otawhao, was the irritation felt by the Ngatimaniapoto at having a magistrate lodged amongst themselves, after they had threatened those tribes who should tolerate one with their displeasure.
There were, of course, scattered about the villages of Waikato, plenty of discontented people, who had been somehow affronted by the leaders of the King-party. Now that loyalty had a marketable value, these men had a strong personal interest in declaring themselves upon the Queen's side. they accordingly obtruded their loyalty upon the officers of Government, claiming to be made assessors, wardens, or policemen. No advantage was to be gained by yielding to their demands; they constituted a small minority in the midst of an overwhelming hostile majority. They might, if appointed, have drawn their official pay, but they could not have made the slightest impression upon the mass of the people. So little did the chiefs of the King party care for the influence of Government assessors, that they made very little objection to assessors being appointed in the very centre of the King's dominions. It was commonly reported that all the Queen's native magistrates within the Maori kingdom paid over regularly a part of their salaries to the King, as the condition of being allowed quietly to receive the remainder. The Maories declared openly that, having formerly tried to conquer, and having failed, we were now trying to bribe them into submission. They derided equally both our attempts.
The effect of the new institutions in the Waikato district can be best illustrated by giving the history of the reduction under law and order of the Ngatiwhauroa tribe.
Ngatiwhauroa is a very small tribe, or rather ‘hapu’ of the great Waikato tribe, numbering only fifty or sixty men, scattered over a wide extent of country, reaching to the north as far as Paetai, on the Lower Waikato, and south as far as Whatawhata, and everywhere closely intermixed with larger and more powerful ‘hapus.’ Their principal village is Kahumatuku, a mile above Taupiri. Hona, [Hona Te Kotuku] [Taati Wareka Te Waru, a Ngatiapakura chief.]
Disappointed at the coldness with which their new-born zeal for the Queen was received, they resolved to make applications in other quarters. Hona accordingly went down to the Commissioner of the Lower Waikato, and told him that his tribe lived partly in the Upper, and party in the Lower District; that they all objected to be included in the former, but wished to be altogether in the latter. Thence Hona went on in the Commissioner's company to Auckland, to see what effect he could produce on the Government. His conditional loyalty was accepted; the Government made the arrangement desired, and Hona and his friends became salaried officers of the Queen.
A month afterwards, to Hona's great disgust, the Lower Waikato District was placed under my charge, so that I had every opportunity of observing the mode in which his new duties
During the whole time that Hona was a Queen's officer, he attended native meetings, visited Ngaruawahia, appeared on terms of perfect familiarity with the disaffected natives, and never, so far as I know, did the slightest service to Government in return for the salary which he received. At the outbreak of the present war, he went down with some of his tribe, and lived at a village called Cameron-town, about eight miles below Mangatawhiri; at which place Mr Armitage, who had again become Hona's superior officer, lost his life in an ambuscade. There was very grave suspicion that to this ambuscade the Ngatiwhauroa tribe had been privy. Waata Kukutai accused Hona of being accessory to the death of Mr Armitage, at which the latter took such offence, that he openly renounced his allegiance to the Queen, and went over again to the King's side.
The above story shows how impossible it was to force upon
In fact, Sir
The only remedy that can ever cure the evils of that distracted colony is the establishment of some Government that can make itself obeyed. It is not the enactment of additional laws that is wanted: the country is infested with laws and with assemblies of law-makers. But the last link between sovereign and subject—a police to make the laws obeyed—is entirely defective in New Zealand, and at the present time no effort is being made to supply the deficiency. If there existed any power that could arrest and punish Maori offenders against the law, without destroying the entire race in the process, the whole difficulty would be solved.
In England we learn the lesson of obedience to constituted authority at so early an age, that we are apt to regard it as a common instinct of mankind, and to forget that it is a lesson that must be learnt before self-government is possible. With Maories it is not so. Children, like all other possessions, are regarded as a sort of common property. If a father ventured to punish his own child, the mother's family would resent it as an affront, and probably claim some payment to atone for the offence. The parent is not absolute over the child, and therefore the child never learns to obey. I have seen little children rise up and strike their parents with the full force of their infantine
[For an account of the upbringing of children in one modern Maori community, see Ernest and Some Modern Maoris, (1946), especially Chapters IV and V. They found the discipline often severe but in general capricious.]
The new system did nothing to teach that lesson of obedience which was so much needed. The central power was divided, the Colonial Ministry and the Governor were independent and sometimes conflicting authorities, and the Maories knew it. No man could serve two masters, and an untutored love of independence prompted the Maories to serve neither. Moreover, they had come to look on Government rather as a storehouse of good things to be enjoyed, than as a superior power to be obeyed. If they could not get what they wanted out of the local officer, they went to the Colonial Minister, and if he was also churlish, they appealed to the Governor, and often in the end got what they asked for. No attempt was made to establish or support the authority of the District Commissioners. Correspondence of the most important kind, of which, however, the commissioner of the district was kept in profound ignorance, was carried on with natives by officials in Auckland; measures were taken and arrangements made, sometimes by the Governor, sometimes by a Colonial Minister, sometimes by the officials of the central department in Auckland, without consulting, and even without informing, the officer of the district thereby affected. Every one connected with Government desired to have his finger in the native pie, until at last the number of cooks became prodigious. I can enumerate at least a dozen masters from whom
The result of this was, that the loyal natives soon became more disobedient and insolent than the disloyal. In May, 1862, [Descended from the Ngaitahu and Ngatiwhatua tribes. The incident is reported in AJHR, 1863, E-4, p. 6 ff.] [Te Tirarau Kukupa, of the Parawhau [Aihipene Kaihau, a Ngatiteata chief living at Waiuku. See below, p. 214 ff. This incident is reported in AJHR, 1863, E-3, p. 16 ff. It occurred in March 1863.]hapu, a section of the Ngapuhi tribe.]Gazette, that he had ‘resigned his office.’ Waata Kukutai borrowed his salary in advance from the Government in Auckland, to keep himself from going to prison for debt. The district officer was directed to stop the salary till the loan was repaid. The latter having obeyed his orders, Waata was so angry, that he wrote a most abusive letter to the Government, complaining of the underhand fraud committed upon him by the Commissioner, and threatening to resign his office. No notice was taken. Shortly afterwards, the Governor raised his salary from £50 to £150 a year, as a reward for his loyalty; and Waata, thereupon, applied forthwith to the Colonial Ministry for a salary for his wife, because the weight of public duty prevented him from growing food for her. Examples of this sort could be multiplied indefinitely.
The instances in which law has ever been enforced against
No plan of native government which has yet been tried, either by Pakeha or Maori, has succeeded in teaching the good and necessary lesson of obedience. In this respect, the plan of self-government supported by Tamihana and his friends broke down, as they themselves admitted, as completely as the Governor's; though, as a means of demoralizing and pauperizing the natives, the latter was unrivalled. In short, every scheme which depends on Village Runangas as the means of teaching and enforcing obedience, must, in the present condition of the people and Runangas, break down.
The system established by the Waikatos themselves had a great advantage over the Governor's, in the existence of a better sort of Runanga, namely, the King's Council at Ngaruawahia, which Tamihana was trying to convert into a Parliament of the entire Maori nation. But an account of the Waikato government, and an examination into its excellencies and defects, must be deferred until the next chapter.
Chapter XIII
The Maori Kingdom
Since the introduction of Christianity into New Zealand, the political condition of the Maories has progressively become more and more democratic. The traditional power of the chief, derived from heathen superstition, is now altogether gone. Men like
In the Maori kingdom, as in all other native districts in New Zealand, the supreme authority, legislative and judicial, resides in the Village Runangas.
In making laws, the Runangas have no idea of any limit to the province of government; their regulations extend to the minutest details of private life. They make laws about behaviour on Sunday—laws against falsehood, whether slanderous or not—laws to fix the prices of pigs, corn, and potatoes—laws to fix the payment for which people shall carry the mails. In short, the Runanga is a grievous tyranny, and would be insupportable, if it only possessed power to carry its decrees into execution. Happily, the tribal government is more feeble than forbearing;
The Runangas throughout New Zealand exercise judicial authority. In the Maori kingdom, there are, indeed, persons styled King's magistrates, just as in the Governor's native districts there are Queen's magistrates; but neither are able to exercise the power implied by the name. Physical force resides in the members of the Runanga, who carry out their decrees, when they are carried out at all, by the strength of their own right arms. No Runanga would carry out the decision of either King's or Queen's magistrate, till they had first themselves examined its justice. Thus they constitute themselves the real judges. A Maori magistrate only acts as a sort of detective and public prosecutor, and sometimes reasons and expostulates in a friendly way with offenders who will not submit themselves to his decision. Against a Pakeha defendant, it is generally easy enough to put a Runanga in motion. No more mercy is shown by a Maori Runanga to a Pakeha, than by an Auckland jury to a Maori. But any native who feels himself strong enough, redresses wrongs received from Pakehas, without troubling the Runangas, by helping himself to a horse or a cow; and this way of obtaining satisfaction is approved and sustained by the Native Assemblies, if the original claim to compensation is just.
The laws which guide Runangas in their judgments are those which may approve themselves to the individual conscience of each member. Some quote the Ten Commandments; some, Maori custom; some, English law; some, laws developed out of their own self-consciousness. I once heard a trial before the Runanga of Peria, at which it was given in evidence that a man called Kepa had made a law that no one should go to his house while he was from home; and ‘Kepa's law’ was accepted throughout the trial as perfectly valid; the only question entertained being whether the defendant was aware of it.
The Runangas do not generally succeed in administering substantial justice. This is the natural consequence of the
It must not be supposed that the anarchy of one tribe is exactly like that of another. In some tribes ‘Lynch law’ is administered with greater justice; in others with greater vigour. Amongst the Ngatihaua tribe the administration of justice has always been very creditable. This is to be attributed to the character and personal influence of AJHR, 1860, F-3, p. 63.
The Ngatimaniapoto Runanga was very powerful, but not by
When the several tribes united to set up the Maori King, they did not thereby surrender their distinct independence. The Maori kingdom was a sort of federation which did not much interfere with the local jurisdiction exercised by the Village Runangas in the way described.
According to the native system, Matutaera Potatau, the King, had very little to do personally with affairs of state. He used to travel about, attended by chiefs, to most of the great meetings, where he was always carefully guarded by a body of drilled soldiers, and, whether at home or on a visit, seldom appeared outside his house when Europeans were present. In political matters he was scarcely ever consulted.
All public business was transacted by a Council of State, called the Runanga of Ngaruawahia, which was composed of about a dozen members, [The regular members, as listed by Gorst in June 1862, were
Of the wisdom of the King's Council I feel bound to speak in the very highest terms. In all questions which I have heard discussed by them, they have argued with calmness and good temper, keeping steadily to the point at issue, and facing all the difficulties. They usually came to a just decision. Calm, in discussion, the strongest opposition never provoked personal rudeness. It would have been impossible to get together a body of Maories with whom the Government could have more advantageously consulted upon the management of the native race. If the King's Council had only possessed power equal to their wisdom and moderation, the present war would never have arisen. But that wise resolutions should but seldom be carried into practical effect is a weakness that appears naturally inherent in all public bodies at the antipodes.
The Runanga of Ngaruawahia often acted as a judicial body: it appeared to be the last resort in cases which no one else could settle. During the year 1862, many wrongs had been done to Europeans living in Waikato, chiefly in the Ngatimaniapoto district, which the local chiefs and their Runangas were unable or unwilling to redress.
Indeed, as an instrument for enforcing law, the Council was less effective than the local Runangas. Its authority was not universally acknowledged. My friend Patene once told me that he had never recognized as members of the Runanga any others than Rewi, Wetini, and another; and that the men who called themselves the Runanga of Ngaruawahia were impudent usurpers. The King's magistrates appointed in each tribe added no strength to the central authority. Their power, dignity, and emolument, all depended on local sources; there was nothing to make them uphold the government of the King, as distinguished from the tribal government: they were nothing but local officers, who used the King's name as a badge of opposition to the English Government. Tamihana and several members of the King's Runanga wished to vest the whole judicial function in chiefs appointed by, and responsible to, the Maori King; but it is manifest that the project could never have been carried into effect. The Runangas would have given no help to the King's magistrates till they had judged the case themselves. If the two powers came into collision, the King's magistrate would always have had to yield. Besides, the King could give no salary, nor hold out any other inducement, which would make his magistrate prefer a barren allegiance to the more profitable and pleasant course of falling in with the passions and prejudices of his own kinsmen and companions.
There were in Waikato and the neighbourhood several bodies
These soldiers were not at the command of the Runanga of Ngaruawahia; whether they would have obeyed their commanding officer or not was doubtful; but it was quite certain that the commanding officers were not subject to the Council. On several occasions when the services of the soldiers were requested, the chiefs by whom the various companies had been raised and equipped refused to let them be employed. When Reihana was asked to send his men to defend the goldfields of Coromandel against the Pakeha diggers, [See below, pp. 190–1.]
Besides the weakness consequent upon having no one to
The account above given shows what Tamihana and the chiefs of Ngaruawahia were obliged frequently to confess, that there was no power amongst the Maories capable of really governing. They complained bitterly, however, that we had not given them fair play, saying, that instead of being allowed to devote their sole attention to domestic affairs, they had been kept by the British authorities, since they began to construct a Government, in a continual state of excitement. First, we had made and unjust war at Taranaki; then we threatened to attack and put down the King by force; and since Governor Grey had come, he had never ceased to alarm them by his attempt to bribe the King's subjects from their allegiance, and by his preparations for war. It was hardly to be expected, said they, that children such as they were could succeed, when we kept harassing them the whole time they were making the attempt. They thought the least we could do was to let them alone, and not interfere until it was conspicuous that they had failed.
But, like some other Governments, though weak in domestic affairs, in foreign policy the Maori King was strong. As the rallying point of a Maori nationality, as the head of a federation to resist the encroachment of the Pakeha, the King was enthusiastically supported by all Waikato and by men of distant tribes.
Tipene's words to Sir
The Waikato chiefs used often to confess their great need of money to carry out their schemes. The remark was constantly made, that we got all our power by money; and that if they had as much money as we, they would be equally able to carry out their plans.
Their power of raising revenue was very small; most of their money, in fact, came from voluntary contributions. The largest donation I ever heard of was one of £300 in sovereigns, collected by the Hawke's Bay natives, and sent to Waikato, just after the Taranaki war. It was said that this sum lay un-touched up to the time of the present outbreak. There were, however, a few regular sources of revenue: all the money taken at ferries in the Waikato district was paid over to the King. The charges, which were regulated by a tariff, were usually 1s. 6d. for putting a man and horse across the Waikato, and 1s. on the Waipa and smaller rivers. The ferry at Pukete paid in one year £5 to the King. The system afforded great advantage to travellers, who were thereby exempted from the extortion customary in other districts. At the much smaller streams of Mangatawhiri and Whangamarino, where the tariff was made by Queen's natives, under the sanction of the Government, the charge was half-a-crown.
Most of the local Runangas paid over to the King some share of the fees and fines which they exacted. I have heard of as much as £10 at a time coming down from Reihana, of Whataroa, for the King's treasury. One of the favourite projects for raising revenue was to levy a tax of £1 per annum on all Europeans resident in the King's dominions. The promoters of the scheme declared t