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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 9, Issue 3 (June 1, 1934.)

Aspirations and Disappointments

Aspirations and Disappointments.

Early in 1857 Tamehana went to Auckland to see the Governor and lay before him the condition of the country, in order that some plan might be arranged to advance the Maori tribes and weld them into peace. He was anxious also to have a European magistrate stationed at his own village, Peria, in the Matamata district. He was prevented from obtaining access to the Governor, and his various requests were slighted. He returned disappointed and offended, and realised then that he would have to work out a scheme for the betterment of his people without the favour of the pakeha. The Government, presently, disturbed by reports from the Waikato, made a half-hearted effort to establish a system of laws in Waikato, but did not persevere with it, and in the meantime great tribal meetings had been held, and the selection of Potatau te Wherowhero, the venerable warrior chief of Waikato, as head of the Maori Confederation was confirmed at Rangiaowhia, Rangiriri and Ngaruawahia, and the last-named place became the headquarters of the Kingite councils. The rest is recorded history, the coming of the war despite all the efforts of Tamehana, who never ceased to work for peace.

All Tamehana's advances were rejected. A peacemaker by instinct and intention, he was forced into the position of a belligerent. At Tamahere, before the war began, he explained the position to Europeans who paid him friendly visits. He and his people were not breakers of the Treaty of Waitangi, for neither they nor any of the Chiefs of Waikato had ever agreed to it or signed it except seven old men who had been given red blankets to do so. There was, however, no enmity on their part towards the Queen. They had simply constituted Potatau their head and called him King, as a centre round which they might rally, in order that they might do for themselves what the Government had neglected to do namely, make laws to take the place of their old Maori customs and which were obsolete or injurious. He thought that their King should be to them what the Governor was to the Europeans; that the two races should be united by one general law and that the Queen's mana should be a hedge and a shelter round them all. At the same time they would not be the subjects of the white colonists; they would administer English laws themselves, that is, take the pakeha laws so far as were suitable to their circumstances and carry them out without being responsible to the pakeha law-makers and administrators.

Presently, a proclamation by Governor Gore Browne made it clear that the pakeha administration was not only opposed to the King movement but that unless the Maoris gave up their King the Governor had no option but was commanded by the Queen to make war on them. The land would remain theirs “so long only as they are strong enough to keep it.” This “monstrous theory,” as Sir John Gorst described it, meant that but for the obligation of the Treaty of Waitangi the Europeans would help themselves to land when ever strong enough to do so. This indeed became an accomplished fact in Waikato and Taranaki immediately British artillery, rifles and bayonets had quelled the Maoris’ legitimate aspirations for local self-government.