Maori and Pakeha at Te Aroha: the Context: 2
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MAORI AND PAKEHA AT TE AROHA: THE CONTEXT: 2: MAORI IN HAURAKI IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY Philip Hart Te Aroha Mining District Working Papers No. 11 2016 Historical Research Unit Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences The University of Waikato Private Bag 3105 Hamilton, New Zealand ISSN: 2463-6266 © 2016 Philip Hart Contact: [email protected] 1 MAORI AND PAKEHA AT TE AROHA: THE CONTEXT: 2: MAORI IN HAURAKI IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY Abstract: After the arrival of Europeans, the Maori population of Hauraki suffered a rapid decline. Some rangatira opposed Pakeha ways, whereas others adopted these for their personal benefit. Keeping ‘the peace of Hauraki’ required government agents to intervene in various disputes between hapu (Ngati Hako in particular causing concern in the 1870s and early 1880s). Although rangatira had links to both Queen Victoria and King Tawhiao, the government was relieved that most remained ‘loyal’ to the new order, and only an intransigent minority opposed the spread of ‘civilisation’ through its roads, telegraph, and the snagging of the Waihou River. A liking for Pakeha goods encouraged collaboration, with Maori joining the cash economy through their involvement in road making, gum digging, and European agriculture to raise money for, in part, traditional gatherings that for a while were more lavish than earlier possible. Maori of all ranks were quick to stand up for their rights by using the court system, reminding Pakeha of the Treaty of Waitangi, and, in some cases, violence. Tensions were eased by Maori socializing with Pakeha in sport, horse racing, and even the Volunteers, but drinking together in hotels could result in fights, and the lure of alcohol had to be countered by temperance movements. A few Maori children attended school, with Pakeha, and for a time the government provided a (free) doctor and vaccinated them against smallpox (though some preferred traditional ‘cures’ for other ailments). For most, living conditions remained poor. Criminal behaviour was of a minor nature. Christianity had to compete with old beliefs (notably in maketu), newer ones such as ‘Hauhauism’, and by the later years of the century the popularity of the Mormons. Examples are included of intermarriage, ‘half-castes’, and Pakeha Maori, all being notable features of the time. In a variety of ways, Maori society was sufficiently resilient to adapt and thereby to survive the impact of Pakeha settlement, which produced massive changes and dominated the region well before the end of the century. HOW MANY MAORI? 2 One historian has estimated that, during the first 50 years of Pakeha settlement, the number of Hauraki Maori halved.1 The census taken in March 1874 gave a total of 1,420 Ngati Maru, mostly living in Hauraki.2 That taken in March 1878 of Ngati Maru living in Hauraki produced a total of 1,598. As with the other censuses, this included children, plus 40 half- castes living with the tribe.3 Three years later, the number living at Thames was 1,227 (some lived in Auckland and at Taupo, on the other side of the firth).4 When the next census was taken, in 1886, the Thames Advertiser feared it would reveal that Ngati Maru and neighbouring tribes had ‘diminished in numbers to an alarming degree’. It blamed depopulation on the ‘adoption of European vices’, which had caused the birth rate to fall ‘almost to nothing. The decay of a noble race is obviously a mere matter of time’.5 Later that year, the newspaper repeated that Maori seemed ‘to be fast disappearing. Yesterday, a fine little girl, a daughter of Hemi Watene,6 aged nine years, and last week one two years old died at Kupata, near Kirikiri. The race may, indeed, be compared to a candle being burned at both ends’, with the old people dying and ‘the frequent deaths of children, of which we hear so often’.7 The following month, Henry Dunbar Johnson, 8 an Ohinemuri correspondent for this paper, reported that, ‘as far as this district is concerned, the native race is dying out fast. When I first came here, eleven years ago, both banks of the Ohinemuri River, from the junction’ with the Waihou ‘to Mackaytown were fully lined with whares, swarming with natives, and now there’s scarcely a stick left’.9 1 W.H. Oliver, ‘The Social and Economic Situation of Hauraki Maori after Colonisation’, in Hauraki Maori Trust Board, The Hauraki Treaty Claim (Paeroa, 1997), vol. 10, p. 58. 2 Results of a Census of the Colony of New Zealand Taken for the Night of the 1st of March, 1874 (Wellington, 1875), p. 276. 3 Results of a Census of the Colony of New Zealand Taken for the Night of the 3rd of March, 1878 (Wellington, 1880), p. 354. 4 Results of a Census for the Colony of New Zealand, Taken for the Night of the 3rd of April, 1881 (Wellington, 1882), p. 310. 5 Thames Advertiser, 13 February 1886, p. 3. 6 See Thames Advertiser, 8 July 1875, p. 3, 20 October 1876, p. 3, 11 June 1878, p. 3; Thames Star, 30 April 1887, p. 2; not an investor in Te Aroha mining. 7 Thames Advertiser, 16 September 1886, p. 2. 8 See paper on Lavinia and Henry Dunbar Johnson. 9 Ohinemuri Correspondent, Thames Advertiser, 28 October 1886, p. 2. 3 The 1886 census recorded 1,580 Ngati Maru. Members of all tribes living in Thames County totalled 1,222, in Ohinemuri County 484, and in Piako County 518.10 The 1891 census recorded 1,349 Ngati Maru, and the number of all Maori living in the three counties was 844 for Thames, 512 for Ohinemuri, and 846 for Piako.11 Five years later, there were 1,202 Ngati Maru, and 1,010 Maori lived in Thames, 483 in Ohinemuri, and 291 in Piako.12 In 1901, there were 692 Ngati Maru, and the number of Maori in Thames was 774, Ohinemuri 630, and Piako 409.13 These figures indicated both a notable decline by the twentieth century and considerable mobility. The Thames Advertiser explained an increase in the number of Maori living within the Auckland provincial district in 1878 to migration from places where they were not ‘treated with such respect or consideration’.14 The validity of the claim that Maori were treated in this way will be one of the main themes considered in this chapter. As in the chapter on Pakeha attitudes to Maori, all named individuals, both Maori and Pakeha, were shareholders in claims in the Te Aroha Mining District unless otherwise noted. THE VIEWS OF AN ‘OLD SCHOOL’ RANGATIRA George Thomas Wilkinson, Native Agent for Hauraki and then Waikato and the King Country, through his close personal contacts with Maori sympathized with their position in a settler society, which he usually considered to be superior to late nineteenth century Maori society.15 In his annual report for 1884 he recorded the death of Te Hira Te Tuiri,16 who ‘on 10 Results of a Census for the Colony of New Zealand Taken for the Night of the 28th of March, 1886 (Wellington, 1887), pp. 360, 364. 11 Results of a Census for the Colony of New Zealand Taken for the Night of the 5th of April, 1891 (Wellington, 1892), pp. xlvi, li. 12 Results of a Census for the Colony of New Zealand Taken for the Night of the 12th of April, 1896 (Wellington, 1896), pp. 133-134. 13 Results of a Census for the Colony of New Zealand Taken for the Night of the 31st of March, 1901 (Wellington, 1902), pp. xli, xlvi-xlvii. 14 Editorial, Thames Advertiser, 16 November 1878, p. 2. 15 See paper on Merea Wikiriwhi and George Thomas Wilkinson. 16 See New Zealand Herald, 13 November 1883, p. 5; Bay of Plenty Times, 17 November 1883, p. 2. 4 account of his great rank and position’ had been able to keep Ohinemuri closed to mining from 1868 to 1875: He was a most consistent chief of the old school, and considered more the benefit of the Maoris as a race than that of individuals, and his impression always was that the two races were so differently constituted, and their manners and customs were of such a different nature, that what was beneficial to one was detrimental to the other; hence his idea of the necessity of keeping them as far apart as possible. And he was not alone in that idea; the majority of old Natives who have had experience in the matter, and are entitled to speak (and not a few Europeans also), are of the same way of thinking. When Te Hira found that he was not able any longer to resist the wishes of his people, he reluctantly gave in; but, in order that he might not take any further part in what he considered would end disastrously to his people, he left Ohinemuri.17 Probably only a minority of Maori were reluctant to change, and force of circumstances meant this minority had to adopt new ways and abandon old ones. ‘THE FEELING OF THE NATIVES TOWARDS THE GOVERNMENT’18 When annual reports from ‘Native Officers’ were first published in 1872, this was the first point that the Native Office required Edward Walter Puckey, the first native agent at Thames, to report on.19 This ‘feeling’ had always been of great concern, as illustrated by a visit by George Clarke, Protector of Aborigines, to ‘the Thames’ and Waikato in December 1840. His came to visit ‘the chiefs of that district, and as far as possible to counteract the ill feelings of the natives towards the Government, arising from their natural jealousy, and strengthened and encouraged by designing men’;20 clearly the latter were Pakeha.