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First Administration of New Zealand
(Continued)
1845-1853. ætat 33-41
Chapter VIII The Civilization Of The Maoris

There is something peculiarly gratifying in turning from this record of strife to a study of Grey's native policy, which reveals so much of harmony and good-will in the relations between governor and governed. If the argument of the following pages be correct it would appear that he failed of complete success through neglect of instructions sent him by the Colonial Secretary on a question of vital importance; but in the general estimate it will hardly be denied that his administration of native affairs constitutes one of the noblest attempts to reconcile the interests of two races in close contact with each other, the one just emerging from barbarism, the other accustomed to representative institutions for many centuries. "I determined from the first," he page 109wrote, "to adopt the system of policy regarding the natives as being as much interested as ourselves in putting down disturbances, in fact considering both the Europeans and natives as inhabitants of one country, subject to one Government, whose object it was to promote equally the happiness of both races, and which Europeans and natives had therefore an equal interest in supporting." This was the conviction underlying his policy and he started in the right way to give it effect.

Most of the difficulties with which a governor has to contend when called upon to administer the affairs of two races so essentially different, arise from misunderstanding. The natives were good speakers, but they had a peculiar habit of expressing their will indirectly by reference to well-known songs, or by allusion to ancient story. It was not easy for any European to follow the suggestion, and one of Grey's earliest mistakes arose from an inaccurate interpretation of a speech delivered by Walker Nene on the alienation of tribal lands. "I soon perceived," he wrote, "that I could neither successfully govern, nor hope to conciliate a numerous and turbulent people with whose language and manners, customs, religion, and modes of thought I was quite unacquainted." He therefore applied himself sedulously to those studies which resulted in the publication of Ko Nga Mohaka, ne Nga Hakariora, O Nga Maori in 1853; Polynesian Mythology and ancient traditional History of the New Zealand Race in 1855, and a Collection of Maori Sayings and Proverbs in 1857.

The work extended over many years, and was carried on during the intervals of pressing public business in a way that page 110can best be understood by reference to his private secretary's journal of an expedition into the interior during the summer of 1849-50.

The party were making their way along the Thames River in the direction of Rotorua; but when they had reached the Mangawheri Creek the rain poured down in torrents, and the river rose so high that it was impossible to make further progress. This delay was however turned to good account by the Governor, who "amused himself all day in his tent surrounded by natives, learning their songs, proverbs, and ceremonies." At length they reached the hot lakes, and while crossing from Ngae to Ohinemutu the viceregal party landed on the island of Mokiao. The wind blew so fiercely that it was impossible for them to get away in their ill-constructed canoes. "Now, O Governor, just look round you and listen to me," said an old Maori as they waited near the landing-place. "That very spot you are sitting upon is the identical place on which sat our great ancestress Hine Moa when she swam out here from the main. I'll tell you the whole story." And there, under the shady branches of a fine Pohutu-Kawa, the Governor took down word for word the famous legend of Hine Moa who "rose up in the water as beautiful as a wild white hawk, and stepped upon the edge of the bath as graceful as the shy white crane."

The difficulties under which he laboured were great. There was not even a Maori dictionary on his arrival, and in some cases it took years to put the different parts of a legend correctly together. But he was amply repaid, not only by reason of the fact that his book has remained for fifty years page 111the best on the subject; but also because he commanded the sympathy and admiration of the Maoris by his unwearied efforts to realize their point of view. They trusted him, and it was absolutely essential for the well-being of the country that they should. "The main question, the foundation indeed on which every consideration must be based for half-a-century to come is—the relative situation and disposition of the two races." That was the opinion expressed by Grey's predecessor Governor Fitzroy, and in order to impress it the better upon the minds of Imperial ministers he urged that some schemes for the benefit of the natives should be started in order to inspire them with feelings of confidence and gratitude. "When a native asks what benefit the British Government has conferred on his race what reply can be given him? Hitherto the Government has erected no hospitals, has established no schools, has constructed no places of shelter, has contributed toward the erection of no church for the aboriginal population." This again was the language of Governor Fitzroy. A study of the administration of New Zealand under his successor reveals a different state of things.

Shortly after his arrival Grey decided to restrict the sale of spirituous liquors among the natives, and to guard against future insurrections by preventing them from acquiring arms and ammunition. There was much opposition to these measures, which he hoped to overcome by his plans for their educational, industrial, and religious improvement. Much had already been done in these ways by the missionaries of three denominations—Church of England, Roman Catholic, and Wesleyan. Instead of starting any new system he page 112resolved to work with them by rendering financial aid on condition that Government supervision should be permitted. One-twentieth of the Colonial revenue, one-fifteenth of the land sales, and a fixed sum from British Imperial funds were allotted proportionately to the various denominations. Toward the end of 1852 there were 702 children in the native schools: 434 belonged to the Church of England, 215 to the Wesleyans, and 53 to the Church of Rome. Of the annual vote the first received £3,500, the second £1,600, and the third £800. But in addition to this, grants of land were made, which in the general progress of the country would increase in value, and be sufficient at no very distant date to make the institutions self-supporting. In return for this it was stipulated that the Government should be empowered to appoint examiners to inquire into the state of the schools; that the English language should be taught; and that each school should be a centre for industrial training. In addition to the missionary, therefore, each boarding school had a carpenter, and an agricultural labourer; and it was expected that implements, horses, and cows should be provided out of the Government funds. Grey was no doubt inclined to over-estimate the amount of work accomplished in these schools, but he worked harmoniously with the missionaries, and in process of time the system was extended to include natives from the Pacific Islands.

His highest hopes for the civilization of the natives centred mainly in the education of the children; but he had plans for the improvement of the adults, which were part of his scheme for the peaceful settlement of the country. "I am quite satisfied," he wrote, "that no cheaper, more page 113effectual, or speedy mode of effecting the peaceable conquest of the country can be pursued, than of affording employment to a portion of the native population." He therefore associated them with European soldiers in the making of roads in the neighbourhood of Auckland and Wellington. Each Maori labourer was paid 2s. 6d. a day, and the chief who acted as overseer 3s a day. Before Grey left the Colony the old fighting chief Rangihaeta had made a road twenty-two miles long at his own expense! The wheelbarrows used were made by the Maoris, and the sheds for workmen were erected by them also.

The Maoris were an agricultural people, and Grey lost no opportunity of trying to induce them to extend their operations, and adopt improved methods. Instead of alienating their lands, he besought them to rely on the produce of the soil for subsistence. From time to time he wrote glowing reports of the progress made. At Nelson in 1848 they had planted 340 acres of wheat, and at Waikato in the following year were producing fruit, potatoes, and indian corn in considerable quantities. In that district there were nearly 1,000 acres under wheat, and they had also two flour-mills and one watermill erected. The Governor sent home a present of flour ground at one of their own mills, from wheat which was taken from their fields, and he hoped that Her Majesty might say something in return to encourage their attachment to herself. Before he left the Colony he was able to report that nearly every considerable village in the North Island had a watermill, and that on the Waipa River alone there were no less than ten erected at a cost of £2,720, and all of them belonged to the natives.

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In order to undermine their belief in magic, and to secure their attachment to the Government, hospitals were erected at Auckland, Wellington, Wanganui, and Taranaki. Baths were provided in order to foster habits of cleanliness. But progress was slow. The Maori clung to his magic, and dirt clung to him, with amazing tenacity. Yet in 1852, Grey was able to report that 556 patients had been treated at Taranaki, and 401 at Wanganui.

He tried to enlist the sympathy of the natives on the side of law and order by associating them with the administration of justice. A native police force was organized, and he intended to make use of the more intelligent on juries, and in the most elementary branches of the judicial work when they had qualified by attaining sufficient knowledge of English law. But the difficulties were very great owing to the essential difference between the moral codes of the English and Maoris and the estimate of wrongs and punishments based upon them. The case of Maroro will serve to illustrate. In 1849 he was convicted of robbery and sent to Wellington gaol for four months. Three days after his release he went axe in hand to the house of Mr. Branks of Porirua, and murdered him and his two sons. According to Maori usages this was "utu," and the disgrace of imprisonment was wiped out. Maroro was afterwards executed.

Even the organization of the native police was beset with difficulties, and if it gave those actually employed a bias in favour of the law, a very different spirit was sometimes aroused in others. One day during a scuffle in the streets of Auckland a Maori chief was knocked down by a native page 115policeman of lower rank than himself. Exasperated beyond measure by such a disparagement of his "mana," the injured man rushed off to his tribe, and speedily returned with armed followers to demand that the policeman should be given up. Grey, realizing that it was an occasion on which the dignity of the law should be maintained, issued instructions that troops should be marched into Auckland, and that the guns of the warships should be turned in the direction of the canoes in which the warriors had come. Then he gave orders that the natives should leave the town in two hours.

Conscious of their helplessness the chief and his men retreated crestfallen, only to realize that the tide had gone out, and that their canoes had been left high and dry on the beach. They begged permission to await the rise of the tide, but the Governor was obdurate; and amid the jeers of other natives who had gathered round them, they were obliged to drag thirty-five heavy canoes over the mud to deep water. Grey's victory was complete. In two days the native chief and some of his associates returned and laid their meres and spears at the feet of the Governor in token of submission.

The Maoris were unable to take much part in the administration of justice, but Grey took precautions to safeguard their interests in a variety of ways. Resident magistrates were appointed to report on the disposition of the native population, and supervise the collection of the revenue. In arriving at decisions they were instructed to be guided by "equity and good conscience," and in order to give the natives an opportunity of proceeding against dishonest traders, a lawyer of ability was appointed as their standing counsel at a salary of £100 a year, and five per cent commission on all page 116amounts which he received on their behalf. These courts were freely used in the beginning, and during the first twelve months of their existence 211 cases were tried and £490 received from Europeans in Auckland alone.

It has been asserted that, generally speaking, the Maoris are bereft of any true feelings of gratitude. The departure of Grey for England would appear to furnish the strongest evidence to the contrary. Toward the end of 1853 Maori-land rang from end to end with praises of the "father" who had taught his children to plough, to build, and to accumulate property. Songs and addresses were composed in his honour by nearly all the tribes in the country. "Suppose not, O Governor, that this affection for you is merely an outside thing; it comes from the inward recesses of the heart;"—and there is good reason to believe it. In token of their sincerity the Ngatitoa, Ngatiawa, and Ngatiraukau tribes presented him with the heirlooms brought over from Hawaiki to New Zealand by their ancestors. The generosity of others went still further. The natives of the South Island asked what they might do to show their good-will for him. Grey asked them to surrender some territory to the Crown in order that a disagreeable controversy might be ended. After three days' discussion they acceded to his request, and the Governor was able to leave the island in a state of complete tranquillity.

Grey's influence over the natives was undoubtedly great, and his schemes for the amelioration of their condition were magnanimous and, in many respects, successful. Yet there was one great defect which did not escape the notice of the page 117Colonial Secretary, nor of the most prudent among the Maori chiefs. As early as 1848 Ngapora had written to Earl Grey pointing out the evils resulting from the constant weakening of the authority of the chiefs which was taking place in New Zealand, and he complained that, even then, there were no longer any adequate means for the punishment of crimes and the repression of disorder, that could be promptly applied or substituted. The complaint was just, and the explanation is not hard to find.

After the introduction of Christianity, the Maori's hold on traditional beliefs became more and more relaxed; customs once held sacred became the subject of debate, and soon lost their power over the native mind. To some extent this was desirable, but in their zeal the missionaries neglected to sift the sand from the gold. If some of the Maori customs were barbarous and even frightful, others like "Tapu" inculcated a profound respect for authority. Even if they are wrong who say that the Maoris had nothing more than a veneer of civilization, it can hardly be contended that Christian truths ever became so universally authoritative as the old beliefs had been; and when these beliefs were shaken, the authority of the chief tottered too, for he was Ariki—chief and priest in one. "We have seen whole races in all these islands in a few years throw off the yoke of idolatry, and eagerly embrace the Christian faith: that powerful chiefs, to gain the benefit of the truth, sacrificed worldly rank and power; and without compensation of any kind, manumitted their slaves whose labour constituted their chief source of wealth, and established in their territory Christianity in its simplest and most primitive page 118form, although such a proceeding was alike opposed to their power, their prejudices, passions, and apparently worldly interests." So wrote Grey in one of his numerous panegyrics on the missionaries of New Zealand.

But there is another side to the question. Granted that Christianity acted as a powerful solvent on Maori society, were adequate precautions taken to supply some new and better form of authority for that which was lost? Ngapora thought not in 1848, and when Grey returned to New Zealand in 1861 there was no authority in Maoriland which the natives would respect; and great-hearted Tamihana was struggling to restore order by setting up a king. Contemporary writers are agreed that the one thing needful in Maoriland after 1861 was the establishment of some authority which could make itself obeyed. There was no such authority, and Grey must share the responsibility because of a wilful neglect of instructions issued by the Colonial Secretary upon the point.

Earl Grey was deeply impressed with Ngapora's letter, and after careful consideration wrote a dispatch of forty-four pages on the subject which would be interesting reading to those who ridicule him for his "doctrinaire politics," or denounced him for entertaining schemes hostile to the native interest. Earl Grey's contention is essentially the same as that which prevails among many serious-minded people in South Africa to-day—that the authority of the chief ought to be maintained and used, not destroyed; and his argument was a powerful defence of evolutionary as against the well-intentioned, but somewhat revolutionary methods adopted by Grey and the missionaries. To both he gave credit for page 119the splendid success they had achieved, and readily admitted that in as far as the chief's power rested upon barbarous customs, it was bound to suffer disparagement; but he also urged that some other way of supporting the chiefs authority should have been substituted. Slavery was incompatible with British sovereignty and must be abolished, but there ought not to be any sudden obliteration of distinctions of rank. Some measures should therefore be devised to retain the chiefs wealth; and in issuing titles to land, his status should be recognized. He should be the guardian and representative of the tribe in treating with the Government, and more might be done to safeguard his authority in judicial matters. He might be entrusted with a commission under the Government for the maintenance of the public peace; appointed arbiter in disputes among the natives; and exercise the powers of a chief constable in handing over offenders. Earl Grey was content, however, to leave the details to the Governor, provided steps were taken at once to arrest the anarchical tendencies of which Ngapora had complained.

It may be that, even had the Governor tried to carry out the suggestions of the Colonial Secretary, confusion would still have eventuated and war followed; but the most trenchant criticism that can be passed on Grey's native administration is the one suggested by a perusal of this neglected dispatch. The permanent success of Grey's policy depended upon the rapid assimilation by the Maoris of British ideas of government, and their ready acquiescence in the authority of the Queen's representative. It is true that he achieved marvellous success during his administration; page 120but when the magnetism of his personality was removed, the king movement gathered strength, the breach between the two races widened, and war eventually broke out in 1860. It is not too much to say that Earl Grey anticipated some such trouble. For, five years later, he wrote a private letter to Grey in which he referred again to the position of the chief as the only circumstance in the present state of New Zealand which struck him as being not quite satisfactory, and he added, "Experience in South Kaffraria, in Ceylon, and wherever barbarous tribes have been brought under British dominion, seems to me to show that this may be a source of danger hereafter." Earl Grey has been fiercely denounced by historians and pamphleteers in New Zealand for his infamous designs on the rights and property of the natives! The injustice of it!