The fact that the bottom fell out of the agricultural export market in 1856 did not lessen economic conflict. European farmers changed over to pastoralism, which needed more land, and made incessant demands for the fertile Waikato. The Maoris stuck to agriculture and were annoyed when the merchants reduced prices for wheat and potatoes. Moreover the growth of two different styles of farming led to numerous petty squabbles. Maori pigs rooted in European pastures and their dogs worried European sheep; European cattle destroyed Maori crops. European merchants went in for trading arms, ammunition and liquor and Maoris in their eagerness to buy these got into debt. The merchants wanted land to pay the debts. Maori opposition to land selling was increasing. The various Waikato tribes, having seen Ngatiwhatua swamped by selling their land in the ‘forties, were determined to halt European expansion into their own district. They had already sold land at Mangere and Waiuku but in the early ‘fifties they agreed to ban land sales south of the Mangatawhiri. In Auckland itself suspicion and racial antipathy were growing It was found that contact with Europeans was not an unmixed blessing. Restrictions against selling liquor had become a dead letter. European publicans sold the deadly waipiro openly in the town and out-settlements; even in the Waikato where they held “bush licences.” Drunken Maoris became a regular sight in the streets of Auckland There was no proper accommodation in town for Maori visitors from the country. If they did not camp at Orakei they had to put up with one miserable hovel in the town, described as no better than a pig sty. Europeans ignorant of Maori customs failed to treat chiefs with courtesy. Often there were drunken brawls; sometimes inter-racial fights, as at Otahuhu in 1857 when a group of military pensioners and some Waikato Maoris came to blows. In this, according to one newspaper which admitted it did not have all the facts, the Maoris got “a well-merited thrashing.” Such episodes aggravated racial friction. The King Movement developed in the Waikato. It was primarily an attempt to save the land, but it was spurred on by the treatment Maoris received in Auckland. Speakers at King party meetings frequently referred to the evils of liquor, the prostitution of their women and ill-treatment in Auckland. Wiremu Tamihana Tarapipi became the leading promoter of the movement after being badly treated by a Government official in Auckland. Potatau Te Whero Whero, who had lived for some years at Mangere as a reliable friend of the Government and Europeans, withdrew to Ngaruawahia in 1858 to accept the Kingship. Many of his kinsmen went with him.

WAR When the Taranaki war broke out in 1860 matters started to come to a head. A large conference of chiefs friendly to the Government was held at Kohimarama later in the year but failed to arrest the drift to war. Both sides were arming, drilling and preparing for battle. In July, 1863, war started when General Cameron invaded the Waikato. Although most of the fighting was confined to the Waikato and beyond, the war did have an important effect on the Maoris in and around Auckland. Most of these people were still friendly to the Government but were in a precarious position. Those in the out-settlements like Papakura were given the option of taking an oath of allegiance to the Queen or retiring to the Waikato. The oath-taking was not always properly carried out and some Maoris were driven off at the point of the bayonet. Their property was looted.* The Government paid some compensation for this after the war. Most of the young men joined the King party and the older men, the women and children put themselves under the care of Bishop Selwyn—they were later put under Government custody. In Auckland the faithful—they were mainly Ngatiwhatua—had to abide by a curfew and wear coloured arm-bands if venturing into the streets during the day. Most found it advisable to remain at the Orakei settlement. The hatreds engendered by war meant that even friendly Maoris were not safe in town.

AFTERMATH OF THE WARS The wars were a dividing line in Maori-European relations. The Europeans, backed by British troops won the struggle for mastery and land was confiscated with impunity. The Maori bitterness which followed took generations to heal. The Maoris who had not fought were soon enmeshed in land transactions with European settlers and litigation in the Native Land Court under the Native Land Act of 1865. A wave of alcoholism, partly associated with land dealings, swept the country and the Maori population declined. Maori agricultural production declined too and their trade with Auckland was no longer important. Auckland was now a Europeans' town. Certainly its merchants, by losing the Maori trade and commissariat contracts after the war, had a difficult time for some years. But ultimately they found new wealth in European farm production, much of it grown on the confiscated Waikato and exported through Auckland. Few Maoris returned to former settlements near Auckland. Those who returned to reserves in the Mangere-Waiuku district found most of their land had been confiscated; and that left was soon