South Canterbury Times, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1882.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2767, 4 February 1882, Page 2

South Canterbury Times, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1882.

Tawhiao, the Maori King, having been brought so prominently before the reading public by his recent visit to, and public receptions at, Auckland, a few lines on the origin of his kingship will not be uninteresting to those who may not have a very intimate acquaintanceship with the Maori history. A northern journal thus generally states the origin of the King movement: —“ When the sovereignty of the Queen was, by common consent on the part of the Maori tribes, acknowledged, it was on the expressed understanding that the independence of the chiefs and their title to their lands should be recognised ; and these points being conceded, there was then every disposition manifested by the Natives to encourage the white man to settle in their country. They even willingly parted with a considerrble portion of their territory in order that Europeans might be the better induced' to found therein a home, and for a time the feelings of amity and kindness prevailed between the two new made neighbors. Very soon, however, the increasing numbers of the colonists, their untiring energy, and the evidence of their exhaustless resources, began to awaken in the minds of some of the more thoughtful Maoris the fear that the time might soon come when the new race would become the dominant one, and the old race cease to be the owner of the land. That fear . . .

spread in the heart of Maoridora until at length it evolved into a confederacy among the majority of. the Native chiefs, whose objects were to prevent the further alienation of their lands, and to place the maintenance and direction of Native interests under the control of a central and supreme authority. That movement resulted In the election of a Maori King.” The first who took up the anti-land selling movement was Taraati Reina, who made a tour from New Plymouth to Wellington, lecturing on the subject. After some agitation,we learn from the Rev. Mr Buddie’s book, a meeting was held in 1854, which was attended by 1000 influential Natives, when the following, among other, resolutions were agreed to ;—“ That from this time forward no more land shall be alienated to Europeans without the general consent of this confederation.” Boundaries were fixed, and it was resolved, “ That no European magistrate shall have jurisdiefion within Native boundaries, but all disputes shall be settled by the runanga.” It was deemed necessary, in order to give unity to the actions of the convention, that a chief should be elected whom all could honor and trust, and who should be invested with the power of the League. To fill the post they chose, not one of those who had been most active in carrying on this Maori Land League agitation, but one who had gained for himself a name which was respected by the greatest number of tribes. This was Potatau te Wherowhero, who is thus described by Mr Buddie :—“Perhaps no man could have been found who is so generally popular as this old and renowned warrior. His connection by blood with several important tribes secured him extensive influence. His conquests in different parts of the island had rendered him famous in Maori history. His wisdom in council, his eloquence in debate, and his known sagacity, recommended him as a man most likely to attract the largest number of tribes to the standard about to be erected. It may be questioned whether any other chief in these Islands could have drawn around him, or brought to one common centre, so many distant and independent tribes. The promoters of this scheme no doubt knew this when they proposed Potatau as their king. They did not select him for his vigor and energy, mental or physical, or for his ability to give them new laws, and to administer the affairs of the Maori Kingdom. It was the prestige of a name they wanted to give popularity to the project. Their success depended on numbers, and Te Wherowhero was a name universally known and respected, a name likely to induce numbers to join the League. When the leaders of the movement were referred to his age, and to his ignorance of the laws and usages of civilized society, and his consequent incapacity for such a position, they shrewdly replied, ‘ He make laws ! we do not intend him to make the laws or to do the work, we shall legislate and carry on the government, he is only a head for us.’ ” Potatau was made King or Chief of the League in March, 1860, with a considerable amount of ceremony, and a few days later a flagstaff was erected at headquarters, and a newly devised Maori flag hoisted, amid war dances, volleys of musketry, and other demonstrations. The native William Thompson was a leading spirit in the whole affair, and in fact may be regarded as the author of the special form taken by the movement. He was a man of high rank among his countrymen, the son of a famous warrior. He had spent his youth among the missions, and thus acquired some knowledge of European terms and forms of Government, and it is probably due to this fact that a supreme chief was chosen, and the term King applied to him. There is no doubt that the King movement was due to the fear of the Natives that unless they agreed to act in concert to prevent the alienation of their lands, each tribe would be gradually dispossessed, in turn, of its heritage, and the whole people thus ruined ; that ignorant of other modes of preserving their territory, they deemed it best to forbid the sale of land within the boundaries they laid down. Heke’s war in the north had shown them that individual tribes must succumb in any conflict with the whites, that their only hope was con federation, and the only sure means of maintaining the confederacy the appointment of a supremo chief. Very various opinions were entertained of the movement amongst the settlers. “ Then; were those,” says the Now Zealand Times,” “ who urged that is was fraught with mischief, and ought to ho at once put an end to at any cost. There were others who, regarding the Maoris merely as children,declared it tube but the toy of

-the moment, and that after a little time it would be laid aside as well as toys are. But events soon proved that the former view was right. . . i . . It meant that henceforth no land could ho sold without the authority of the king, and that any conflict which this might lead to would be a conflict of races. It was a challenge for supremacy, and., the conflict which it invited was not long in coming on. The wars in Taranaki and Waikato, and those on the East and West Coasts of the North Island generally, were all the legitimate and inevitable outcome of the king movement

The contest for supremacy thus waged was, after several years of bloodshed on both sides and the rqih of many happy homes, brought to a close in the defeat of the Natives, and their retreat into those remote portions of their lands which were difficult of access, where they sullenly brooded over their adverse fate. There ffor nearly a period of twenty years the representative of an attempted Maori nationality has lived in exile and seclusion, refusing to have intercourse with the conquerors of his people, and waiting for some possible chance to restore them the lands they had lost. But the trial of Maori patience, like the trial of Maori strength has at length come to an end.”