Ko te Kahiti o Niu Tireni

I kitea te putanga tuatahi o te pepa Ko te Kahiti o Niu Tireni (The New Zealand Gazette): Published under the authority of the Government, i te 31 o Hereturikōkā/Ākuhata 1865. He whakaputanga kāwanatanga tēnei, ā, i puta whakahipahipa taea noatia te tau 1884, i noho mai ai hei putanga ā-wiki, ahakoa he maha ngā putanga tāpiri (motuhake). I tīmataria e James Edward Fitzgerald (1818–1896) i a ia e tū ana hei Minita mō ngā Take Māori i te tau 1865.

Ko te whāinga matua o Ko te Kahiti hei whakaputa whakatau e pā ana ki te iwi Māori ki te reo Māori, kia whānui tonu te putanga. E ai rā ki ngā putanga tuatahi o te Kāhiti “The purpose of this publication will be to publish notices and advice from the government, in the same manner as the European gazette; if there are other matters that are of particular benefit to the Māori people, or other issues they wish to see in print, whether for the material wellbeing of the people, or relating to lands, or possessions, they will also appear..” (1865: 1.)

I puta i ngā putanga tuatahi te matahuhua o ngā kaupapa - he pānui tūmatanui, he tohutanga tangata ki ngā tūranga, he pānui nui, he ture, he rekureihana hou hoki. I muri mai i pā te nuinga o ngā kaupapa o roto ki te Kōti Whenua Māori, pēnei i ngā pānui mō ngā whakawākanga meāke ka tū, me ngā pūrongo mō ngā whakatau a te Kōti mō te pupuru whenua, me nga ōta tukunga taitara mō ngā whenua. Tērā te wā mai i 1901 ki te tau 1909, ko te tini o ngā matū o roto ko ngā mahi a ngā Kaunihera Māori, hei tauira, he whakaputa i ngā rā me ngā wā e taea ai e te tangata te pōti mema kia noho hei kanohi mō rātou i ēnei kaunihera. I muri i te whakamananga o te Native Land Claims and Adjustment Act 1901, i whakahautia ai te rehita i ngā tamariki  whāngai (ngā tamariki i whakapiria mai ki tētahi whānau, i whāngaia rānei e ai ki te tikanga Māori tuku iho) ki te Kōti Whenua Māori, e āhei ai rātou kia whiwhi whenua mai i ō rātou mātua whāngai. I muri i tērā, he maha ngā pānui mō ngā tamariki whāngai i puta.

He ruarua ngā kupu Ingarihi i ngā putanga tuatahi.  Ahakoa tērā, mai i te tau 1920, ka piki haere te maha o ngā pānui i puta ki te reo Māori me te reo Ingarihi, ka kitea hoki i reira te hekenga o te whakamahinga o te tuhi i te reo Māori, i roto i aua wā. 

I rere te putanga whakamutunga o Ko te Kahiti i te 2 Āperira/Paengawhāwhā 1931. I puta pūputu hoki te hiahia  mō ngā tau tekau o mua atu, neke atu, kia whakahekea te utu mō te tā me te toha i Ko Te Kahiti. I whakahekea te rārangi o te hunga whiwhi kape kore-utu i roto i taua wā, ā, i topea hoki te maha o ngā kape i tāia o ia whakaputanga. I te tau 1931 nā te rūnanga nui a te Kāwanatanga te whakatau kia katia  Ko te Kahiti hei penapena moni. Ko te whakaaro ia, he māmā noa te tā i ngā pānui i puta i mua i roto i te Kāhiti ki te New Zealand Gazette, i te reo ingarihi, i te reo Māori, kei te āhua o te hiahia, ahakoa kua puta ngā tohutohu a te Tari Māori kia kaua e pēnei. Kāore te Kāheti i whakaarotia he wāhi pai mō te whakaputa pānui mō te Kōti Whenua, ā, i whakaputaina tonutia ēnei e te Tari Māori  hei pānui motuhake, taea noatia te tau 1933, i muri mai rānei.

The first issue of Ko te Kahiti o Niu Tireni: I taia i runga i te mana o te Kawanatanga came out on 31 August 1865. A government publication, it was issued irregularly until 1884, when it settled down to a weekly issue, albeit with frequent supplements (motuhake). It was started by James Edward Fitzgerald (1818–1896) when he was briefly the Minister for Native Affairs in 1865.

The purpose of Ko te Kahiti was to make official decisions relating to Māori available in te reo Māori and widely accessible. As the first issue stated “Ka taia ano nga Panuitanga me nga Whakaaturanga a te kawanatanga, rite tonu ki te tikanga o te karere pakeha; mehemea ra ka kitea he mea e tau ana hei painga mo te iwi Maori, he mea ranei e hiahiatia ana e ia, ahakoa he tikanga mo te tinana o te tangata, mo tana whenua ranei, mo ana taonga ranei.” (1865: 1)

The earlier issues contained a wide mix of materials — public notices, appointments, proclamations and new statutes or regulations. Later the majority of the content related to the Native Land Court, such as notices of upcoming hearings and reports of the court decisions around ownership and succession of blocks of land. For a period between 1901 and 1909 much of the content was taken up with the work of the Māori Councils, for example announcing the dates and locations where people could vote for members to represented them on these councils. After the passing of the Native Land Claims and Adjustment Act 1901, which made it compulsory for whāngai (children either adopted or fostered under customary Māori practice) to be registered with the Native Land Court before they could inherit land from their adoptive parents, notices about whāngai also became common.

Early issues rarely contained any English. However, from the 1920s the number of notices published in both te reo and English increased, reflecting the decline in the use of written te reo Māori over that period.

The final issue of Ko te Kahiti was published on 2 April 1931. There had been pressure for at least the previous ten years to reduce the costs of printing and distributing Ko te Kahiti. The list of people who received a free copy was reduced during this period, and the number of copies printed for each issue was also cut back. In 1931 the decision was made by Cabinet to close Ko te Kahiti in order to save money. It was felt that the notices previously published in Kahiti could be printed in the New Zealand Gazette, in English or Māori as required, although the Native Affairs Department had previously advised against this. Publication in the Gazette was not seen as the best place for all the Land Court notices, and the Native Affairs Department continued to publish these as separate pānui until at least 1933.