Exile to Antarctica

Press, 6 May 1983, Page 14

Exile to Antarctica

Grudgingly paid the taxman his “dues” recently? Don’t feel too bad about it. BRIAN MACKRELL reports on the “good old days” when tax objectors faced ...

For several days in mid-1898 the far north of New Zealand tottered on the brink of civil war. The troubles began in 1896 when the Hokianga County Council levied a dog-registration fee of two shillings and sixpence per animal. The population of the county then numbered about 2000 Europeans and an equal number of Maoris.

The latter were still smarting under the imposition of a land tax from which, under the Treaty of Waitangi, they believed they should be exempt. While all the local Mahurehure sub-tribe of Ngapuhi objected to the levy — particularly because dogs were essential for hunting wild pigs for meat — the majority grudgingly complied. Twenty, however, refused to pay. They were charged and convicted in a local court, ordered to pay fines and costs or go to jail for three months. All chose jail. The following year 20 Maoris again served three months in Mt Eden for refusing to pay. On March 11, 1898, 20 were again summoned but this time they had an eloquent spokesman, Hone Toia, a former native policeman. He requested a two-month adjournment so that the matter could be fully discussed. He said that he hoped to convince his kinsmen of the necessity of paying the registration fee.

“The Magistrate expressed himself pleased with Hone Toia’s statement and adjourned the court till May 11,” reported the newspapers. But some Europeans thought that the farcical business had gone on long enough. Mr A. S. Andrews, of Hokianga County Council, suggested a more effective treatment for Maori tax objectors “would be a sea trip in rough weather and a period of hard work in the cold of the extreme south of New Zealand.”

Other Europeans amplified this and spread word that if the Maoris continued to refuse to pay, soldiers would come and they would “be made prisoners for life and conveyed to a place where there is

everlasting snow.” On April 28, at Hone Toia’s meeting at Waima village outside Rawene, some of the younger fnen spoke of the threats of what sounded like exile to Antarctica. There were impassioned speeches and war dances. William Burr, the chairman of the county council, was summoned to Waima to be told by Toia that the Maoris would not pay the dog-registration fee, would not go to court or jail, but would “destroy the bad law at Rawene by force.” Toia added that “no women or children or settlers would be hurt — only the law.” Within a few hours of Burr’s hasty return to Rawene the majority of the European population had fled for refuge across Hokianga Harbour. Telegrams about “fanatics, fearless of death, threatening Rawene” reached Wellington. Newspapers which had been reporting “troublesome natives” began talking of them as “Hauhau fanatics”, which is incongruous because Pai Marire (Hauhau to Europeans) was an 1860 s religion that had few if any Northland adherents.

Then it was reported that Hone Toia’s followers “bound by oath to fight to the death”, worshipped “Nga kahe the serpent” and that Toia himself was “a half-cast spiritualist and ventriloquist” who had “worked up his followers to a state of semi-frenzy.”

The council member who had proposed the stern punishment for Maori tax objectors suddenly took a vacation “in the south” as a newspaper later noted. Another European, the local Native School teacher, displayed remarkable courage by remaining at home in reputedly “fanatic-infested territory” and was later reported to have been “laughing at the whole business.”

“King Dick” Seddon and his Government did not consider it a laughing matter and over-reacted — to put it mildly. The warship H.M.S. Torch and the Government vessel Hinemoa were dispatched to

Rawene. Under command of Colonel Newall, 120 troops and 10 policemen armed with carbines and 100 rounds apiece, plus four machineguns each supplied with 7000 rounds, poured ashore. A naval contingent of 60 was placed on standby and a further 100 troops were in readiness to proceed to the front from Auckland.

Newspapers estimated Hone Toia’s followers as “250 well-armed natives.” In fact Toia had no more than 100 men though they were certainly well-armed with modern Winchester repeaters and shotguns, and a plentiful ammunition supply. Nevertheless there seemed little doubt that a numerically superior European force which could deliver 13,000 rifle and 28,000 machinegun bullets would annihilate the Opposing Maoris several times over with great ease. On May 5, leaving half his force guarding Rawene, Newall advanced on Waima — “the Hauhau

stronghold” as the press now called it — along a rough bush-lined road from Rawene. In dense forest, on both sides of a steep section of road on the Waima Pass, Toia and 60 Maoris were waiting. Newall was leading his 60 troops, with three machineguns, into a carefully-laid ambush. From newspaper reports it is obvious the machineguns were not even loaded on the march. At the ambush point the Europeans were slogging up a steep incline. They had been on the road for more than three hours and the horse-drawn ambulance and rearguard were straggling some distance behind. The troops would have suffered severe casualties in the crossfire but for a telegram, delivered to Toia by horse-rider, from Hone Heke, member of the House of Representatives for Northern Maori. The politician who asked Toia to parley was a grandnephew of the chief of the same name who

set the 1845 “Flagstaff War” in motion. The troops were almost into the ambush when Toia ordered a withdrawal and the only shots fired were two rounds over the heads of Newall’s rearguard. Hone Heke hastened to the scene by train, steamer and relay of horses. Next day he “reasoned, rebuked, and pleaded in turn” with Toia, ultimately with success. Twenty-five weapons and four bundles of ammunition were given up in what was more a symbolic gesture than the unconditional surrender demanded by the blustering Colonel Newall. Hone Toia and 15 “fanatics” were arrested. A reporter who accompanied the troops noted that “during the afternoon the prisoners beguiled away the time by singing hymns, their party singing being splendid, and surprising to the Europeans who heard it.” Possibly this surprise was because the prisoners sang

Christian hymns and not incantations to “Nga Kahe the serpent.” The reporter also interviewed Hone Toia: “He says the taxes are oppressing the Maori people, who, in many cases, are not in a position to pay. If native lands could be leased, and if the Maoris could draw the revenue derived from the rents, the difficulties would not occur, as they would have ample funds to meet all claims for land, dog and other taxes.” Toia and his companions were subsequently charged in Auckland Supreme Court with treason and conspiracy to carry into effect “an intention to levy war,” to which they pleaded not guilty. The charge was changed to that of unlawful assembly and they pleaded guilty on the advice of their lawyer. Toia and six others were sentenced to 18 , months in Mt Eden. The remainder were each fined £lO. Dog registration fees came to be accepted as a necessary evil.