THE ORIGINS OF THE MAORI WARS

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28471, 28 December 1957, Page 3

THE ORIGINS OF THE MAORI WARS

[Reviewed by R.C.L.]

The Origins of the Maori Wars. By Keith Sinclair. New Zea* land University Press. 297 pp. In this book the events leading up to the Maori' wars—particularly those events surrounding ‘he Waitara purchase—are subjected to a closer scrutiny than they have received hitherto at the hands of our historians. In pursuance of his task the author has been fortunate in the wealth of material made available to him not only in the shape of official papers held at the New Zealand National Archives and at the Public Record Office, London, but also in the considerable manuscript resources placed at his disposal by New Zealand libraries. Chief amongst such sources are the McLean Papers which came into the custody of the Alexander Turnbull Library in 1938. Extensive use has been made of them in this book, which has profited no less from the use its author has made of the Sir Thomas Gore Browne Papers in the possession of Dame Ethel Locke King, of Caenshill, Surrey. In the chain of events which led directly to the wars in Taranaki, “the first crucial though not irrevocable steps”—states Dr. Sinclair—‘‘were taken in New Plymouth in March, 1859.” On the fifth of that month, Governor Gore Browne, accompanied by McLean (Chief Land .Purchase Commissioner) had arrived in New Plymouth on the first stage of a projected tour of the provinces. Three days later, with McLean acting as his interpreter —and with C. W. Richmond, Minister of Native Affairs, in attendance —he addressed a large meeting of Maoris, concluding his address with a brief statement on the future government policy overing the sale of land. When, the Governor had finished speaking, Teira, a minor chief of Te Atiawa, who had a personal grievance against Wiremu Kingi Te Rangitake, offered to sell 600 acres on the south bank of the Waitara to the Government. He pressed for an immediate answer. The Governor, after consulting McLean, decided to accept the offer if Teira could give a satisfactory title. Thereupon, Wiremu Kingi, a leading Atiawa chief, rose in indignation and objected to the sale of this land.

In reviewing the situation thus brought about by Teira’s offer. Dr. Sinclair singles out for especial consideration the concluding remarks of the Governor’s speech, reported officially as follows: “That he never would consent to buy land without an undisputed title; that he would not permit anyone to interfere in the sale of land unless be owned part of it, and that he would buy no man’s land without his consent.” These remarks—Dr. Sinclair points out—implied a major change in government/ policy affecting Janß' purchase;, and in so far as this was the case, they contained,, in his opinion, “an unconscious innovation” on the Governor’s part in respect of land purchase procedure.. He maintains that the Governor was not fully apprised of the significance of this innovation. Furthermore, he claims that whereas the Governor was unprepared for Teira’s offer as something he had not envisaged, McLean on the other hand had fore-knowledge of Teira’s intention; so that McLean’s reticence in keeping the matter to himself placed the Governor in a false position. Broadly speaking, the view presented here accords very nearly with that of the missionary, Richard Taylor, namely, that the Waitara purchase was “most certainly the work of McLean.” And Dr. Sinclair declares that McLean “bears a grave share of the responsibility for the consequences” of the remarks that terminated the Governor’s speech As to any serious investigation of Teira’s title to the land he offered for sale, it is the author’s contention that nothing of the sort was ever carried out. “McLean’s investigations”—he states—“were in fact a sham, designed to aid Teira’s case and not to seek the facts.” The craftiness and guile of which McLean was capable at times receive such ample proof in this book as to render it questionable whether he can any longer appear before posterity in the guise of one whose

dealings with the Maoris were marked by a shining integrity of purpose. After war had broken out in Taranaki, critics of the Government asserted that the question of Teira’s title should, in the first place, have been investigated by a properly constituted court. Dr. Sinclair does not set much store by these assertions; and, in noting them, he wrongly accuses a fellow historian—Mr H G. Miller—of having “recently alleged that the Governor refused to appoint a court.” A glance at the statement in question (on page 54 of .Mr Miller’s work entitled “New Zealand”) reveals that it has been misquoted, if not misconstrued, in the book under review.

The question of responsibility for the Maori wars is discussed in the twelfth chapter of this book, where the author pauses to “sum up and to discuss the role of individuals ip producing the war.” He refuses to: be bound by any narrow connotation of the word “responsibility,” believing as he does that “the great social processes of which the Maori wars were a part, cannot be analysed simply in terms of individual goodness or badness.” At the same time, his criticism of the conduct of those Who figured conspicuously in the events under discussion is always forthright and—where need be—condemnatory but whether favourable or adverse, his criticism is based upon thorough documentation. He is less convincing when he writes of the humanitarians in New Zealand at the outbreak of the Taranaki War. Among them he includes some of the missionaries. In view of their sterling service to the young colony, it is strange that they should be referred to in this book as “exotics even in a colony of exiles.” No less challengable is the author’s contention that “they did not belong to the frontier.” In his explanation of the Maori King movement, Dr. Sinclair rejects as “very superficial” though containing “elements of truth,” the view that this movement owed its origin to the failure of the Government to fill “the vacuum left by the declining tribal system.” Such a view was definitely entertained by Gorst, who was uncommonly, astute in his judgments upon Maori affairs. Dr. Sinclair prefers to put a more positive construction upon the movement, regarding it as movement towards unity or kotahitanga, and as “a Maori attempt to rise above the dying tribe ” The last two chapters of this book deal respectively with the second Taranaki War of 1863 and the invasion of the Waikato that took place in the same year. As a re-examination of events which constituted a turning point in Maori-pakeha relations, this work is an important contribution to New Zealand historical writing. and*aVdnce establishes its ajithor’s reputation as an authority in that specialised field covering not only our dealings with the Maoris in the early days of the colony, but also British colonial policy as it then affected New Zealand.

The book contains a number of portraits and an excellent bibliography which, incidentally, serves a useful purpose in noting the location of a number of manuscript collections held by New Zealand libraries. Some halfdozen printers’ errors occur in the text, and in the footnotes to page 100 “Dictionary of National Biography” should read “Dictionary of New Zealand Biography.” Viewed for its printing alone, the book is a really creditable, and ; pleasing piece of workmanship. The type used is 10 point Bodoni and the paper (Platypus Antique Wove) has been chosen because of its creamy tone which is not so hard on the reader’s eyes as a stark white. It remains ter be asked why could not the book’s title and the author’s name have been printed on the cover instead of recourse being had to a small label supplying this information—a label, moreover, which on the reviewer’s copy has been crookedly mounted. One should have expected something less makeshift than this in a book coming from the New Zealand University Press.