REPORT ON THE STATE OF UPPER WAIKATO, JUNE, 1862.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume II, Issue 63, 11 September 1862, Page 5 (Supplement)

REPORT ON THE STATE OF UPPER WAIKATO, JUNE, 1862.

By J. E. Gorst. Esq. [Memorandum . —The first official visit of Mr. Gorst to the natives of the Upper Waikato district was in the capacity of Inspector of Schools. Upon the Governor’s return to Auckland from the Bay of Islands, in November, 1861, his Excellency determind to send Mr. Gorst to the Upper Waikato as Resident Magistrate, under circumstances mentioned in his Excellency’s despatch to the Secretary of State, dated December, 1861. The Upper Waikato dhtaict was thereupon constituted, by Orders in Council, under the Native acts of 1858. During the Governor’s visit to Lower Waikato, in December, his Excellency was attended by Mr. Gorst, and the verbal orders then given to that officer by his Excellency made it unnecessary to issue written instructions to him at that time.] Introduction. I. Of the Individual Tribes allied under the Maori King. 1. Their Government. 2. Their Social State. 3. Their Disunion. 4. Their Union. 11. Of the Government of the Maori King. 1. The King’s Council. 2. The King’s Dominions. 3. The King’s Officers. 4. The King’s Revenue. 5. Secodcrs from the King. 111. Of the Chief Difficulty in Native Affairs. The object of this report is to give a plain account of the present state of affairs in the Upper Waikato district, and especially of what is popularly known as the “ king movement.” It is strictly to the present aspect of this movement that my remarks are limited : of what it has been in past time, I know nothing except from hearsay and I have not been long enough an observer to

pretend to give an opinion as to what it may grow to in the future. It is necessary to forewarn the reader against understanding the terms used in this description in any precise or literal signification. It would be a serious error to imagine the king, councils, judges, laws, and soldiers, of whom I shall have to treat, to be clothed with the attributes usually implied by these names. A Maori council consists of members met at hap-bazard, without commission to consult, and without authority to give effect to their decrees.. The term “law” is implied equally to a piece of tattered paper pinned to a post, warning travellers not to cross a maize plantation, and to one of the Ten Commandments ; and the king himself, though now carefully secluded from the profane eye, might have been secu, not many months ago, smoking his pipe and digging kumeras like a common man. The titles are adopted from the European, with more regard to their dignity than to their fitness ; but the shape of the body politic itself, “If shape it may be called, that shape has none Distinguishable in member, joint, or limb,” is totally unlike anything that is to be met with among ourselves. It is only the abortive embryo of a govcimment. The Maori kingdom is composed of several tribes, distinct and independent; it is a sort of federation. I do not mean to imply that there is any actual treaty of alliance amongst them, or that any native could tell w hat portion of sovereign power is retained by the tribe, and what is ceded to the king ; but only that there exists distinct evidence of two separate and, sometimes, con dieting authorities : the local, which is exercised by the chiefs and runanga of the tribe; and the central, which is exercised by the king and his council at Ngaruawabia. It will, therefore, conduce to clearness if I separate things, and give, in the first place, a description of the individual tribes united under the Maori king ; and, in the second, of the king himself. In the former respect this district does'not, probably, differ materially from all others in New Zealand ; in the latter it is unique. I.—Of xxie Individual Tkides Allied under the Maori King. 1. Their Government. Amongst the members of a Maori tribe there is that absolute equality of condition, which is called democracy; and that want of organized government, which is known as anarchy. The traditional power of the chief is gone. It is true there are men like William Thompson and Kewi Maniapoto, who have the title of chief, and whose abilities have gained them respect and influence both in their own tribes and among strangers, but these men are the executors of ilio will of the people, not its guides. In all their plans they have to consider what their tribes will think and say; and when their own opinion differs from that of the multitude, it is the former that has to give way. The democracy is too strong for them, and resistance would co»t them their position. The supreme power in the tribes, legislative and judicial, resides in a promiscuous gathering of men, women, and children, held in the public sleeping-house of the village at bed-time; in which certain individuals among the men, not always the wisest or the best, possess a proscriptive right to engross all the talk. This is calk'd a runanga. The members do not come to a vote when there is a difference of [side out-talks the other. In making laws, the natives have no idea of any limit to the province of government; their regulations extend to the minutest details I" of private life; they make laws as to what a man shall, and what a man shall not, bo allowed to do on the Sabbath ; laws against falsehood, whether slanderous or not; laws to fix the prices as to which pigs, corn, and potatoes shall ho sold: laws to fix the payment for which people shall be allowed to carry the mail: in short, the runanga is a grievous tyranny, and ‘would bo insupportable if it only possessed power to carry its laws into execution. It is not because of the forbearance but because of the feebleness of their tribal government that the natives enjoy any share of individual liberty ; it is not that they obey laws which respect the rights and liberties of the subject, but that they do not obey any laws at all. The runangas are tyrannical, but weak ; the people, lawless and free. If anything should give the runangas , as at present constituted, power’ ot execute their decisions, the natives might remain equal, but they would find themselves no longer free. It is well known that these runangas also exercise judicial authority. There are, indeed, certain persons who are styled “ king's magistrates.” I have seen a regular printed Gar.elle , in which a man named Hapomana is appointed resident Magistrate of the West by king Matntaera Potatan; but these men are nimble to exercise the powers implied by their name. What physical force there is resides in the numbers of the runanga, who carry out the resolutions, when they are carried out at all, by their own right arms. When G-oorgo Gage, a half-caste, was rescued from custody, it was the runanga of K ilukihi that first resolved he should be taken, and then came in person and took him. No native would carry out the decision of one of the king’s magistrates until they had first themselves inquired into its justice, thus constituting themselves the real judges. The Maori magistrate acts as a sort of detective and public prosecutor, and sometimes reasons and expostulates with refractory offenders who will not submit to justice. Nepo, the king’s magistrate atKopna on the Waipa, reasoned very seriously with a native who attempted to fire a loaded pistol at a European, and pointed out his fault to him in very strong terms ; but his power did not extend any further. It is also very common for the name of magistrate to be usurped by any of the leading men of a runanga without formal appointment. When the runanga. of Maungarangi came down to try a European resident at Kopua for cattle trespass, Epiha To Iwipau, who is a slave from Wanganui, called himself a magistrate and acted with all formality as such; so a totally unjustifiable seizure of property was carried out coolly, and with all duo forms of law and order. Ent any native who feels himself strong enough, redresses his wrongs without troubling the runangas : and such conduct

is thought right provided that there be any grounds for seeking redress at all. Europeons are very seldom surmmoned either by me or by the ruu(t-Hffas-x any native who fancies he has sustained injury fron them helps himself to a horse or a cow, and leaves the European to seek his remedy by the slow process of Maori law. The laws which guide the Eunangas in their judgments are those which may approve themselves to the individval conscience of each member. Some quote the Ten Commandments; some the Levitical law; some, Maori custom; some English law ; some, their own laws. Even a private person may make a law. At a trial before the Eunanga of Peria, it was given in evidence that Kepa had made a law that no one should go to his house when he was not himself at home ; and “ Eepa’s law” was accepted throughout the trial as perfectly valid, the only question entertained being whether the defendant was aware of it. There have been some attempts to make a code of laws ; I have only seen one—the Ngatihaua code. 11 had been begun when I came into the district in November last, was completed in April, reteived the royal assent when the King visited Tamahore, and was to be printed. The laws, which are for the Ngatihaua tribe only, were entirely on the subject of adultery, and consisted of a catalogue of offences, and a declaration of the money-payment to be made for each. The Eunangas do not generally succeed in administering substantial justice. Tbeir equity is disturbed by a great many powerful influences. There is the ignorance and wrong-headedness of individual members, which follows from the Eu*nanga not being a body of men selected for age or wisdom, but a popular tumultuous gathering where the young and ignorant can talk down their elders and betters. There is the natural bias, consequent upon the Eunanga as a body, or some of its most influential members, being a party to a cause that is being tried :. the principle that no man can be judge in his own cause is not always admitted either in theory or practice ; I have heard of Vv illiam Thompson himself arguing that a man is himsell the best judge in his own cause, because he knows most about it. There is a strong prejudice of race where one party is a European ; and a still stronger one, or passion, where the King’s mana, or any appearance of yielding to the English Government is involved in the matter at issue. The Eunanga of Kihikihi refused to let the school sheep of Otawhao graze upon the school land, because the names of the Queen and Governor are in the Deed of grant. Then, if the Eunanga succeeds in coming to a just decision, it is by no means certain that it will be carried into effect. There is no police ; the Eunanga has to execute its decisions with its own hand. When it is known that the losing part}’ will rather fight than yield, this is a dangerous job. A notorious thief, \V hakaopaukai, has long set even the Eunanga of Ngaruawahia at defiance, because it is known that lie will shoot any one who molests him. Lastly, the constant vagabondizing of all the Maori authorities makes even the Eunanga’s justice at times inaccessible. The fountain of justice is absent at a iangi , in the Thames, or has transmogrified itself into a war-party and is gone to fight for tile Coromandel gold ; the plaintiff is put off by the everlasting answer, taihoa , which ends all those case in which a judgment to bo of any use must bo speedy. Mr. Chittarn had 500 sheep unlawfully seized by the natives of Taupaki, near Arowbenua; the ease was referred to the Runanga of Kihikihi ; justice was promised ; but the trial was put off till Eewi returns from the Piako, whither he has gone to settle the Coromandel affair, so that in all probability the sheep will be divided and dispersed before the enquiry comes on. It must not be supposed that the anarchy of one tribe is exactly similar to that of another. In some cases this “ Lynch law” is administered with greater justice, or with greater vigor, than others. Amongst the Ngatihaua tribe, the administration of justice is on the whole very creditable. This is to be attributed to the character and personal influence of William Thompson, and other chiefs by whom he is surrounded and supported. These men are anxious for instruction and information on the subject of law, they study the books of Moses and the code of English laws drawn up by Mr. Fenton : and they delight in discussing the principles of law, and arguing cases real and imaginary. I have never heard a complaint of injustice from the Europeans resident in this tribe. The Eunanga at Kihikihi is very powerful, but I have not so much faith in its justice. Eewi docs not pay as much attention as Thompson to the internal affairs of his ywn tribe, and the young men arc in the Eunanga supreme. They are demoralized by the possession of Taranaki plunder, and are violently hostile both to Europeans and to the Government. There is a remarkable system at work at Wbataroa far up the Waipa, which I know only by hearsay: it is unique in the appearance of a well-organized military police-force as an instrument of Government: Eeihana and his Eunanga keep a body of 80 drilled soldiers, by whom tbeir decrees are executed. From all the information I have been able to gather, his administration of justice is fair as well as vigorous. (2.) Their Social State. It will readily be believed that people with such a government as is above described, are in a very low social state: the equality' which exists among them is an equality of poverty and barbarism. Where the whole population consists of lawmakers, magistrates, and soldiers, none are left to bo farmers or stock-keepers, or to practice any sort of productive industry. Persons long residentin this district inform me that the natives have steadily grown poorer since the Kir (T mn v p n ipyif commenced. However this may be, the fact and the cause of their present poverty are plain enough. A great many of the European traders have either left the District, or ceased to trade ; those who remain arc unanimous in declaring that for £IOO they took formerly they do not take £lO now. Hie natives in this neighbourhood, once the greatest wheat-growing district in the Waikato, are now planting scarcely any wheat; they have sold nearly all their horses and cattle and most of their pigs ; their houses are fallen into ruin : their clothes are ragged ; their mills, ploughs, and threshing-machines are left to go to decay, while the owners are travelling about to “ huis ” and

“tangis,” or spending their days in sitting watching a boundary line that they may pounce upon stray cattle. In the .coming winter there will probably be serious scarcity of food. At Peria, in November last, William Thompson and his’ tribe were living exclusively on fern-root; thev are the most generous and hospitable of natives", but at that time they had not a pig or a potato either for themselves or their guests. The natives themselves are quite aware of their increasing poverty, and arc eager enough for wealth; but steady pi-oductive industry Is the only way in which they will not seek it. At Eangiaowhia a law has been passed to stop all further sale of pigs, potatoes, and com to Europeans; partly to secure a sufficient supply for themselves during the winter, and partly because it is intended to flx a higher scale of prices, in order to gain more money for that which can be spared. One chief source of supply is the money spent in the overland mail service ; they have lately been making a foolish attempt to increase their gains from this source, and have run a serious risk of killing the goose that has laid them these golden eggs. The Ngatihaua demanded a higher rate of pay for carrying the mail from Te Rapa to Tauranga and the mail has been discontinued. The Kihikihi natives refused to carry the mail from Otawhao to Whaotu, or to let any one else carry it unless the payment was raised, so that the public conveyance has been stopped for some weeks. Very recently one of them repented, and asked Mr. Morgan whether, if he wrote, the chief of the mails would not let the Ahuriri mail come again. Taati, of Eangiaowhia, made a law that none but King’s soldiers should be carriers between Otawhao and Meremere because they want to earn uniforms ; and a civilian carrier, William Toetoo, was stopped and turned back at Ngaruawahia, while a soldier carried on the bag. A very way common of acquiring property is by tbe appropriation, on slight pretexts, of the property of Europeans. Horses, cows, sheep, and guns have changed owners in this manner. They are sometimes taken with forms of law, the party alleging injury being commonly the judges. The 500 sheep taken by tbe natives of Taupaki were seized because oue of the natives themselves, who was engaged as shepherd, drove 100 of the sheep for bis own convenience upon the waste lands ; they will not let them go under £2OO. As there are not more than a dozen Natives at Taupaki, the share of each, when the spoil is divided, will be considerable. There is hardly a European in the district who would not leave if he could take all his property safely with him; but all have pledges in native hands, and they hold on in hopes of better times, when some part of what has been taken may be recovered. There is a great deal of talk at the present time about leasing lands to the Europeans : short leases only are intended, not such as would make it worth while for the occupier to fence and improve the laud. There are many obstacles in.the wav of this project. In the first place it would be necessary to settle all the old land feuds, and the natives are themselves of opinion that an at tempt to do so would break up their alliance. Then before any Europeans could be induced to rent land, an end must be put to the present state of lawlessness; there must bo some bettor security for life and property than can be enjoyed under tbe runangas and t-he king. These objections are so strong, that Eewi and many members of the king’s council have resolved that no landletting shall be permitted. On the other hand, William Thompson is said to have actually let land to a European, hut to have cancelled the agreement when expostulated with by the king. I have no means of comparing the sanitary condition of the Natives with what it may have been in former days ; but there is a frightful amount of scrofulous disease in every villa re, especially amongst the children; and as long as they persist in sleeping crowded together in leaky and smoky hovels, wearing one filthy garment day and night in (lie severest weather living on a meagre diet of potatoes, which they diversify by sudden wild feasts of putrid maize, there is no mystery in the causes which are destroying the race. Unhappily, they are spending their remaining strength in resisting the only help which mfoht save them. ° The education of their children is now totally neglected ; they are left to run about the villages with the dogs and pigs, wild, naked, and dirty. Not only has the number of children in the Mission schools decreased by more than half, but almost all those village schools winch gave so much promise a short time ago have come to nothin", and there is no effort and no desire to see them revived. And that there may he no hope of saving the young generation from growing up in ignorance and barbarism, the parents are firmly resolved that they will not accept (ho assistance of the government or of Europeans in doing that for thenchildren which they would not do themselves. A law was been passed and agreed to by them aU, that no fresh European schools or school-masters shall be allowed within the King’s dominions ; to this law even W illiam Thompson himself confesses that he has agreed. His own school at Matamata has dwindled down from sixty children to less than a dozen ; and though he regrets its down-fall, and would himself do anything to restore it, he positively refuses any assistance from the government. Unless this "state of things is very speedily changed, the next generation of Natives will be even worse educated than the present, and as ignorance increases the anarchy of the laud will become still more difficult to cure. (3.) Their Disunion. It must not be supposed that the tribes allied under the Maori king live in uerfect union and fellowship; among them, as among all equals, there are jealousies and quarrels. Their old hereditary land feuds are dormant but not extinct. There is a chronic dispute between Ngatikoroki and Ngatiraukawa about a small extent of waste land beyond Maungatantari, which has cost more than its entire value in cattle and sheep to those Europeans who have been so unlucky as to rent it. The very land upon which I live, which was sold years ago to the Crown, is the subject of dispute between Porokura and Eewi, whom weightier considerations now make the dearest friends. None of these cases have been settled by the Maori king, nor

could they be without risk of trouble and cron bloodshed. r J.hcro is no regular tribunal, and no organised plan forjudging inier-tribal disputes. ■ Thompson s idea is, that in every case a neutral tribe—not connected by blood with either party—should be chosen ns judge. There was a difference last summer between rfgatimahula and Ngatiwhauroa about the right to an cel-pa at Paetai; the former who was the move powerful party choose then- blood-reiations the Isgatimaumpoto as judges; William Thompson, who is related to the weaker side, protested, and proposed one of the Hauraki tribes as being really neutral; but he was not listened to. lie was so angry that ho would not go to the meeting at which"' the trial took place. The settlement of this ease cost the king the allegiance of the defeated party. Besides hereditary feuds, there are many new jealousies which sprung up during the Taranaki -the bad feeling between Ngatihaua and higatimaniapoto has been already mentioned in a previous report. At Kawhiu, the Ngatimaniapoto and Ngatihikairo have been on the point of coming to blows at any time within the last four months, -there is a land feud between them of very long standing, but the latter have been further exasperated by the nick-name Ngatihikairo, ■nhich is bestowed upon them to commemorate their cowardice in the Taranaki war. There exists great dihereuce of opinion as to the policy which should be pursued by the alliance. As there arc no means by which different schemes can be brought into public discussion and unanimity attained, and as one tribe lias a very imperfect knowledge of what is going on among others, it is quite possible for twiT sections of them to bo entirely at cross purposes, just as one flank of a lino of raw recruits marches on while the other flank wheels and so breaks up the ranks. This is what is now taking place in the matter of leasing lauds ; and at the attempt to expel the European magistrate, a remarkable conllict of authorities occurred, in which members of the king’s council disclaimed the acts of a man who was executing their own resolutions. The difference of sentiment existing is an insurmountable obstacle to anything like joint legislation. The king’s council cannot make laws," it can only suggest them to the different tribes, who assent or dissent as they please : for example in order to check the prevalent habit of cattle-stcalin" the runanga ol Ngaruawabia proposed a law in October last, that any man driving cattle out of the district should obtain a pass from officers who ■\ycre appointed at Peria, Rangiaowhia, WTmtawliata, and Ngaruawahia. These passes were to be printed to avoid forgery, and any native driving cattle ■without one would be liable to bo stopped. The Europeans at Auckland, Aburiri, VVhaingaroa, and other places wore to bo warned not to purchase cattle from a Native without asking for his pass. This excellent regulation was agreed to by some tribes, but opposed by others ; it has therefore never been carried into clfeet. (T.) Thtir Union. With causes of dissolution such as these, it is manliest that alliance among’ the tribes could not subsist without some very strong bond of union. There may be other motives which aid in kceping up the alliance, hut there is no doubt that the chief of all is dislike and distrust of the English Government. The Maori King is the incarnation of Maori antagonism to our Government. It mav seem incredible to those who are conscious only of the most friendly feelings towards the Native race, who arc sincerely desirous to raise them from degradation to ah the'benefits which we mean bv the word civilization, and who are spending time and labor in this task; it may seem incredible that they should be regarded with dislike and utter distrust by almost (he whole population of Waikato. But I am daily made painfully conscious of the existence of this feeling, ami 1 should be neglecting my duty to the Government were I to fail in reporting it. Those who are most friendly to me avow that it is not because I am, hut in suii'e of my being, an officer of Government. William Thompson in speaking of English i ustiiutions - ays. “ I like your laws, it is your men that I do not like.” lie has often urged me to give up aii connexion with the Government, and come and live at Peria and teach Ids school. Rewi Manhipoto offered his friendship if 1 would bo a missionary, or trader, or anything but a Magistrate. Pa tone said he would make no attempt to drive me awav if I would open a shop to sell tobacco and blankets. Tumuhuia told Mr. Clarke and me the other day that bis love for us was great, because we could not do anything for the Government ; but as soon as wo began to make Assessors he would drive us out of the district. The precarious footing on which an officer of the government stands is shown by the following letter which T hompson wrote to me from Tamaherc on the 10th of last April: “There is a story come hero, I do not know whether true or false ; if it is true, I send you word that you may all go back to town. Listen to this false report:—John Papaliewa and Reihana Porutu went to buy themselves powder, and bought four casks : thereupon those men were taken up, and the European, and tried. • The European lias been put to death, and the Maoris are left in prison ; according to the tale of the Maoris, in one month they are to die. That is the report. This is a notice to you, if the story is true, that you that you may go off in haste to our friend the Governor, that they may be let out, so that we may live in peace under our God ; for that law has never yet been publicly known on the Maori side.” Just after this letter had been written, Thompson received certain information that the story was false. Mr. Clarke and I happened to arrive at Tamaherc the same evening. Thompson read us the letter himself, and said that it had been intended as a friendly warning lest any mischief should befall us. In conversation with the Natives I have heard four causes asserted as keeping up this feeling of hostility. (1.) The first is the chronic cause of Maori disaffection, the land. So much has boon said and written on this subject, that it is unnecessary to do more than mention it. Their feeling that all their importance is derived from the possession of land, and that when the Government has bought it, they will be oppressed and despised, is well

known. Then, if resolved to sell, they cannot sell with any satisfaction to themselves. We have taught them they possess a valuable thing which they may cither sell or withhold ; but they do not know- tnemaulves—and they can trust no one to ted them—how-much it is worth ; thus they are in a feverish uncertainty what price to demand x\o man hkee to think that he Ims been taken in! anil u is well known that a Native will rather lot com or potatoes rot, than take a price less than what he considers just. Lastly, before selling, they mu-t adjust disputed titles. The landleague holds back all the land, because they cannot sell it without quarrelling amongst 'themselves. (■-■) 'l'he second is the bad passions which the Taranaki war has left behind. There is the triumphant insolence of the victorious Ngatimaniapotos; the hatred and fear with which those in possession of plunder regard those they have injured; the exasperation which the spectacle of poverty and misery, the foretold results of war, has produced in men like Thompson. All the misery which they experience is ,laid —I do not say justly—at the door of Government; so that the name of Government has come to stink in the nostrils of the Natives, and though the men may be changed, the bad odor of the name cannot be got rid of. (3.) The third is what they regard as a preparation for military operations on the part of the Go\ eminent. Ihey cannot believe that peace is to be permanent while a large force of soldiers stays m the country. They know that they themselves are the only enemy, against which the soldiers can have to fight, and so long as these remain, they cannot help feeling distrust and uneasiness. The road frgm Drury to the river has not been opposed, because they admit the Governor’s right to do what lie pleases on the Queen’s land ; but it is not the less regarded universally with dislike and suspicion. W. Thompson savs' that it can be made for no other purpose than 'to briim soldiers and great guns upon the Waikato river! In this neighborhood there is a great deal of talk about a road that is being made at Taranaki, and William King has several' times impressed upon -»Ir. C larko that in the event of its coming upon native or disputed land, there will be war.° The road from Whaingaroa to the Waipa was regarded as part of the same imaginary scheme of invasion, and still vehemently opposed as such by the Non-’ tnnaniapoto and Ngatihaua jointly; with what success 1 do not yet know’. (I.) In the last place, the large sums of money believed by the Natives to bo given to the loyal Natives of other districts, are an insuperable bar to the growth of any confidence in this, Natives m all places say openly that wo, having failed to conquer them, are now trying to purchase their allegiance to the Queen. ‘Among (hose who can be bought, the news creates a feverish anxiety to sell themselves at the highest price possible, and jealousy lest any cf their neighbors should gain more of the prizes of loyalty than they. Among those who cannot be bought (and this class com” prises nearly all the leaders of the King party) the report hns produced one strong feeliiurtowards the Government measures—and that is, contempt. ’ . I may be mistaken in the causes to which I attribute the hostility cf the Waikato Natives’jto the Government. Those which I have mentioned .lave been frequently either expressed or implied m their discourse; but perhaps there mav be other and deeper ones concealed. Of the existence of this feeling of hostility, however, there can be no doubt; in spite of all causes of disunion, it has produced an alliance which among ihe tribes in this district lias become latterly, so far as I can ,pmgo, closer I nan it was before the Government operations commenced. it !■• this alliance under the Maori King that it now remains for mo to describe. ° (To he Continued in our next.)