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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 10, Issue 7 (October 1, 1935)

Surveyor and Diplomat

Surveyor and Diplomat.

Mr. Smith very early in life was called upon to exercise his qualities of wisdom, command and tact in dealing with Maori affairs. He was for most of his official life a kind of Native Commissioner as well as surveyor. He was not yet twenty-one years old when he was despatched by the Government to the Kaipara district in order to enlist the assistance of the Ngati-Whatua tribe against the Waikato tribes, who were reported to be preparing for an attack on the town of Auckland. He had been engaged in surveying newly purchased Government land in the Kaipara and Northern Wairoa, and after several months’ work there he had returned to Auckland, when he received instructions to go back to the district with all possible speed and bring down the Ngati-Whatua (the kindred of the Orakei residents) to come to the defence of the city, as most of the British troops were in Taranaki.

“As I knew the people well by this time,” Mr. Smith wrote in his diary narrative of the mission, “it was thought I was the best messenger to fetch them. On the 4th April, 1860, an hour after receiving my instructions, I was away up the Waitemata with three Maoris on this business. We travelled on over the portage through the night, arriving at Kapoai, a native village on the Upper Kaipara, at 3 a.m., and as soon as the tide served, started down the river for the Wairoa. The natives had all gone to Te Kopuru, where I found them all encamped. In addition to about four hundred Ngati-Whatua, there were some two hundred Ngapuhi (the two tribes were engaged in peace-making). They had built a square of temporary huts and tents with a large open space in the centre for speeches and war-dances.

“As soon as I arrived I was seated on a stool in the centre of this square (the marae), where the letter from the Government was read, and I had to explain the necessity for the Auckland [Orakei] tribes returning at once to assist in the defence of the city. But they did not appear in any hurry, and declared that they could not leave until they had concluded the peace with Ngapuhi all of which was very annoying to me, as I had to impress them to make all haste back. Otherwise, this great meeting was very interesting to me, for it was held with all the formality of ancient times — long speeches, war-dances, and all kinds of old ceremonies, not the least interesting of which was the hari-tuku-kai, or songs and dances of the young women page 24 as they advanced into the square, bringing the baskets of food held in their hands above their heads. My tent was pitched in the square, and generally one of the chiefs sat with me to explain the meaning of the various speeches and ceremonies.

“It was not until the 11th that peace was made and we all left, the Ngapuhi going up the river and the rest of us down stream to Tauhara; and a very fine sight it was to see our flotilla of about thirty boats and several fine war-canoes under sail. We were detained there by bad weather until the 18th, for the crossing inside Kaipara Heads is only to be undertaken in fine weather; it is so dangerous a place owing to the heavy seas which get up. It was not until the 20th that we arrived in town, and then most of my relieving force had melted away. Luckily the Waikato tribes had changed their minds and gone home, and so ended my urgent trip to fetch help to Auckland.

“Had the necessity arisen there is no doubt the Ngati-Whatua tribe would willingly have fought against their old enemies the Waikato. And, moreover, this tribe felt a kind of responsibility for the safety of the pakeha, for after a great meeting at Okahu (Orakei), on Auckland Harbour, they had sent an emissary to the Bay of Islands, to Governor Hobson, inviting him to occupy their country on the isthmus of Auckland and form his seat of Government there. It was not entirely an unselfish offer on their part, for the Tamaki Isthmus had been the constant highway of hostile war-parties both from north and south for ages past, and they thought that if they could get the white man to settle there these hostile incursions would cease, which in fact they did, for ever. In these raids Ngati - Whatua always suffered.”