The Deceased Maori Monarch.

Opunake Times, Volume I, Issue 19, 4 September 1894, Page 3

The Deceased Maori Monarch.

The Dictionary of Australasian Biography gives the following particulars respecting the deceased “ monarch ” ; Tawhiao, the second Maori King, son of Potatau, the first New Zealand King, was originally called Matutaera, and was chosen to succeed his father in June 1860. In February, 1875, after years of estrangement, Tawhiao had an interview with Sir Donald McLean, who informed him that the abandonment of the confiscated Waikato territory, winch he demanded, was quite out of the question. Sir Donald McLean’s propositions were:—That Tawhiao should exercise authority over the tribes within his district, that he should choose his council of chiefs to keep order; that the Government should assist him, and provide him with a house at Kawhia, and grant him certain lauds on the Waipa and Waikato rivers out of the confiscated areas. After a considerable amount of negotiation, no definite agreement was come to. In May, 1878, he had a meeting with Sir George Grey at Hikurangi. Sir George, who was then Premier, promised him 500 acres near the grave of bis father, and the restoration of other lands to his people, but Tawhiao neither accepted nor rejected these proposals. In 1879 Tawhiao again met Sir George Grey, and repudiated all compromise with the Europeans, telling Sir George “ that all foreign innovations must be swept away; then there will be no evils." In 1881 Tawhiao, to the surprise of all New Zealand, visited the confiscated territory in the Waikato, professed friendship towards the settlers, and surrendered his guns and those of his party to the resident military officer in token of peace. In 1882 he visited Auckland, and in 1884 he went to England to enlist the influence of the Queen in checking the agression of the New Zealand Government. Tawhiao succeeded in obtaining an interview with Lord Derby, then Colonial Secretary, who promised to send a memorial to the Queen, but the tone taken up was that New Zealand, having been granted Responsible Government, the Colonial Office could not interfere in a matter eminently of local concern. Throughout his late career, Tawhiao’s attitude towards the New Zealand Government was one of passive protest against their land policy. In 1892 Mr Cadman, the then Native Minister in the Ballance Administration, induced him to accept a pension of £225 a year.