Reprinted from The Common Good, no 10, Advent 1998

www.catholicworker.org.nz

 

Parihaka – Tragedy or Triumph?

by Marilyn Pryor

 

Half a century before Ghandi or Martin Luther King, non-violent passive resistance was used to oppose state violence. The history of Parihaka, a Maori village in Taranaki, forms an essential part of our traditions as Christians and New Zealanders. This inspirational piece of history should be known and respected by all.

Parihaka is situated on the western foothills of Mt Taranaki. By the late 1870’s it was the largest and most prosperous Maori settlement in New Zealand. Its 1500 inhabitants were led by Te Whiti o Rongomai and Tohu Kakahi. Born in New Plymouth, they had been educated at a mission school. They moved to Parihaka in 1865 after their homes had been destroyed by troops in the Taranaki wars.

Through their proclamation of Christian study and pacifist doctrine, their mana grew daily. Their instruction attracted huge numbers of people to Parihaka where a movement for peace and development was established well before the Taranaki wars ended in 1869. This peaceful situation lasted for nearly a decade.

The Surveys

This changed in 1878 when the Government began to survey central Taranaki for European settlement. No discussion took place with the Maori owners. Te Whiti gave instructions that nothing should be done until he had discussed this with the Government, but the Government wouldn’t talk to him. The land being surveyed had not been bought from Maori and had not been confiscated following the Taranaki war. The surveyors made some limited provision for Maori reserves but this was done without consulting the owners. They were expected to take what they were given.

For five months, Maori offered no resistance. Then, a line was cut through fences and cultivations of Maori owners exposing their crops to wandering stock. At this, the surveyors were turned back.

Three months later, the surveyors put a road through Tito-kowaru’s cultivations and a burial ground. Still no action was taken but now the Native Minister did come to speak with Te Whiti. Because they could not reach common ground, the Minister stopped talking.

It was only after these negotiations had failed, that a group of Maori went to the surveyor’s camps, packed up their belongings, and moved them out. The Government compounded its error in not speaking to the Taranaki leader by spreading the myth that Maori would come into line if they were given enough reserves.

The Ploughmen

When the Native Minister declined to have any further discussions with Te Whiti, and officials made no proposals for Maori reserves, the prophets of Parihaka sent out unarmed ploughmen to plough settlers’ land to emphasise the need for negotiation.

It was a dangerous undertaking, but Maori continued with the task and would not respond to aggression when removed.

When the Government visited the area, the ploughing stopped. When they spoke to others but avoided Te Whiti, the ploughing started again.

Within a month, the armed constabulary were sent in to arrest the ploughmen. From Parihaka it was directed that those of the greatest mana should be first to put their hands to the ploughshears. As ploughmen were arrested, others took their place. In all, 420 ploughmen were imprisoned.

With the pick of the Maori fighters now in gaol, the Government decided to carry on with the survey and sale of land. The West Coast Commission, established to inquire into claims of broken promises over Maori reserves, said nothing should be done until their report was tabled.

The new Native Minister, however, was impetuous. By April 1880 he had 600 armed constabulary ‘repairing’ a new road direct to Parihaka. Maori offered no resistance until, at the Native Minister’s instruction, the constabulary broke the fences around the large Parihaka cultivations exposing crops to the constabulary’s horses and wandering stock.

The Fencers

As the fences were broken down, fencers appeared to repair them. Thereafter, each day that fences were destroyed, new fences were built. In July, the constabulary began arresting the fencers and altogether 216 were sent to prison. Parliament passed the Maori Prisoner Detention Bill to validate the fencers’ arrests and to postpone their trials indefinitely.

The fencing problem was resolved when Maori erected slip rails across the roads to allow passage but prevent stock trespass. Any thoughts the Minister might have entertained of an invasion of Parihaka while the fighting men were in gaol were frustrated.

Held without trial

Of the 420 ploughmen arrested in 1879, only 40 were sent for trial. They were sentenced to two months, then held for a further 10 months for failure to find collective sureties of £8,000 to keep the peace. The remaining 380 ploughmen were held without trial in prisons in Dunedin, Lyttleton, Hokitika and Ripapa Island. The survivors were released in 1881. None of the 216 fencers arrested in 1880 were granted a trial.

Although there were protests in Parliament, there appeared to have been little public concern with this unusual suspension of the rule of law. It is indicative of the state of Parliament at that time that the House could receive the Native Minister’s assertion that the Magna Carta and habeus corpus were ‘mere legal technicalities’, ‘mere form(s) of English law’ for lawyers to fall back on.

In the meantime, the West Coast Commission reported that the numerous promises of Maori reserves had never been fulfilled. It observed that broken promises, unfulfilled Compensation Court decisions, and fraud had justified Maori protests. It also said that ‘filling our gaols with prisoners, not for crimes but for political offences in which there was no sign of criminal intent’ had done nothing to advance the peace. Further, the Commission spoke of the need for Parihaka reserves to be made before any action was taken.

Without any consultation, however, the Native Minister arranged for Te Whiti’s most arable land to be surveyed and sold. The spring planting on this land was complete when the surveyors entered, along with the armed constabulary, to break the fences and expose the crops once more. The Maori food supply was now threatened and again they re-erected the fences. No arrests were made this time because in the Minister’s mind, Maori had obstructed the survey. On that basis Parihaka could now be invaded.

The Invasion

On 5 November 1881, a military force of 1589 invaded and occupied the unprotected Parihaka. The Native Minister, in person, was at the head. The troops were first confronted by 200 small boys then a second line of defence was formed by 60 girls with skipping ropes. One commander was struck by the ‘extraordinary attitude of passive resistance and patient obedience to Te Whiti’.

Te Whiti said, as the Native Minister approached him, ‘I have done nothing but peaceful work.’ Nonetheless the Minister commanded that, together with Tohu and several others, he should be arrested. As he was being led away, Te Whiti told his people not to resist: ‘Even if the bayonet be put to your breasts do not resist. . . we looked for peace and we find war. Be forbearing, patient and steadfast, keep to peaceful work’.

After the leaders had been taken away, those remaining sat on the marae and refused to leave even in the face of threats. Forced removals began two days later. As the people were removed, their houses were torn down and women were raped. By 22 November, 1600 had been forcibly dispersed. They were transported from Parihaka under arrest. More houses were then destroyed and material from these destroyed houses was used in the construction of a nearby camp for the armed constabulary. Thereafter, the surrounding crop land was destroyed. There was looting and livestock were driven away or slaughtered.

The dispersed Maori suffered great deprivations. In response, the Native Minister offered them road work. When Parihaka residents held a meeting in April 1882, more homes were destroyed.

That month Te Whiti and Tohu were transferred to Addington prison and the Government legislated for them to be held indefinitely without a trial. In the meantime, the Governor General filed a report with the British Government criticising events in New Zealand. Within days of hearing back from London about this, all prisoners, including Te Whiti and Tohu, were released. By 1884 they began to rebuild Parihaka.

New Zealanders were not to know that forced removals, pass laws and other suspensions of civil liberties had been applied here. It was not until the publication in 1975 of Dick Scott’s book, Ask that Mountain, that pakeha New Zealanders began to realise what had actually happened.

With the publication of the Waitangi Tribunal’s Taranaki report this shameful part of our history comes back as a reminder of the injustices imposed by our early settler Government. The contrast between the biblical pacifism of the Maori and the lawless collusion of opportunistic settlers must stir the conscience of all.

Copies of the Waitangi Tribunal’s account of the Parihaka story may be purchased for $6 a copy. Post to Wel-Com, PO Box 1937, Wellington, (04) 496-1759. Alternatively the full report can be borrowed from the library.

This article first appeared in Wel-Com, July 1996.