Waiheke is the largest island within the Hauraki Gulf and is situated midway between the Waitemata and Coromandel Harbours. Its greatest lengths and widths are 12 and 16 miles respectively.

The rolling hills, no higher than 759 ft, are mainly underlain by hard sandstones and siltstones and are used chiefly for sheep farming. Residential areas are growing, especially in the west, as its proximity to Auckland and its sheltered bays and beaches makes it popular both to holidaymakers and to retired people. This popularity will probably increase when shipping services improve between Auckland and the many jetties on the island.

Apart from small lenses of manganese ore near the centre of the island, which were extracted during the latter part of the last century, Waiheke Island contains no valuable minerals. Some of the clear red jasper found associated with the manganese ore could be used as semi-precious stone

The meaning of the name is obscure.

by James Cecil Schofield, M.SC., New Zealand Geological Survey, Otahuhu.

The Waiau River rises in the Spenser Mountains and flows eastward to the Pacific Ocean. The main tributaries in its 1,270-square-mile catchment are the Lewis River, which rises at Lewis Pass where the main highway from Canterbury to the West Coast crosses the main divide, the Doubtful River, which rises at Amuri Pass, the Hope River, which rises at Hope Pass, and the Hanmer, Mason, and Leader Rivers. The headwaters, up stream of the Waiau-Hope junction, were strongly glaciated during the Pleistocene. The straight east-west portion of the courses of the Hope, Waiau, and Hanmer Rivers lies along the Hope Fault, a major geological feature of the South Island. During an earthquake in 1888, fences across this fault at Glynnwye were broken and displaced 8 ft horizontally. This was the first conclusive evidence of horizontal fault movement observed in the world.

The Waiau River crosses the southern edge of the Hanmer Plain and then flows through a gorge to emerge on to the northern part of the Culverden Plains. It cuts through two more gorges before reaching the sea. The gorges have been investigated as possible sites for hydro-electric dams. The Waiau River was formerly called the Dillon or Waiau-ua, and was a major barrier to communication north from Canterbury until the construction of a bridge below the Hanmer River junction in 1864. The Lewis Pass highway provides easy access for deer stalkers to the headwaters of the river.

There is a Maori legend associated with this river and the Clarence. According to the story the Waiau-uha (Waiau) and the Waiau-toa (Clarence) were respectively male and female spirit lovers living in the Spenser Mountains. For some reason they were transformed into rivers, the sources of which were not far apart. When warm rains melted the snows and caused floods, it was said that the parted lovers were lamenting and that the rivers were swollen with their tears.

by Donald Rowe Gregg, M.SC., New Zealand Geological Survey, Christchurch.

(c. 1802–66).

Chief of Ngati Haua.

A new biography of Te Waharoa, Wiremu Tamihana Tarapipipi appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Tarapipi was born c. 1802 on the Horotiu plains, near Hamilton. He was the son of Te Waharoa and of Te Wiwine. While still a young man he took part in his father's campaign against the Rotorua and Bay of Plenty tribes and, in 1822, he fought Te Rauparaha's Ngati Toa at Motunui. By 1826 he was acknowledged to be a chief in his own right and had his headquarters at Matamata. In 1839, after his father's death, he superseded his elder brother to become chief of Ngati Haua. On 23 June of the same year Tarapipi was baptised and took the names Wiremu Tamihana (William Thompson).

As neither Tamihana nor his father had signed the Treaty of Waitangi, they did not consider themselves bound by its land-sales provisions. After 1853 McLean's land-purchase policy led to many abuses and caused much unrest among the tribes. In 1857, therefore, Tamihana visited Auckland to lay the Maoris' case before Governor Gore Browne and, also, to ask that a European Magistrate be sent to keep order in the Waikato. He was unable to meet the Governor and returned home with the conviction that the Maoris must act for themselves if they were to suppress lawlessness and create unity among the tribes. He became interested in the “King” movement and his support of Te Wherowhero at a crucial stage enabled the latter to secure the kingship.

When Teira precipitated war with Wiremu Kingi Te Rangitake, by selling the Waitara block to the Government, Tamihana counselled patience; however, Rewi Maniapoto defied the “King's” Council and led a Waikato war party to Kingi's aid. In the middle of this crisis Potatau Te Wherowhero died and Tamihana intervened in the resulting family squabble to secure the succession of Tawhiao. The Governor and Bishop Selwyn urged Tamihana to mediate in the Waitara dispute. With Te Oriori and Te Heuheu (Iwikau) he journeyed to Waitara where he arranged a truce and persuaded Kingi to submit the question to the General Assembly. As Kingi, however, refused to plead his case in Auckland, General Pratt renewed hostilities. Tamihana then ended his attempt to mediate and returned to the Waikato. The Governor issued an ultimatum which demanded that the Maoris should renounce their “King” and make their submission to the Crown. Tamihana replied that the idea of a “King” was sacred to the Maoris; and, as the Governor chose to regard this as open defiance, both sides prepared for war. The missionaries tried to persuade Tamihana to meet the Governor, but his people refused to let him go.

In 1861 Sir George Grey assumed office and introduced a new plan of government for the Maori districts. This paralleled a similar system, centred on the “King”, which the Maoris had evolved for themselves. As both sides were agreed on the form that the institutions should take, the principal issue hinged upon the Governor's recognition of the “King” and flag – with the underlying problem that such recognition would imply his acceptance of the “kingite” thesis that the Maoris possessed separate nationality. In December 1861 the “King” chiefs met Grey at Tupari, near the mouth of the Waikato River, and the Governor agreed to give de facto recognition to the title “King”. The chiefs felt, however, that the concession was dictated more by expediency than by conviction. Shortly afterwards, when Grey ordered troops to resume building the strategic road from Drury to the Waikato, the Maoris decided that their pessimistic view was confirmed. As Naera, a chief whom Tamihana respected greatly, was aiding the troops, he warned the Waikatos not to interfere.

In October 1862, at a tribal meeting at Peria, near Matamata, Tamihana again tried to persuade Kingi and Rewi to submit the Waitara title to an investigation; and, on their refusal, he advised Gorst, the Civil Commissioner in the Waikato, to leave the district. Close upon this the Imperial troops crossed the Mangatawhiri River (near Mercer) and the “kingites” were forced to take defensive action. Tamihana took the field, but, after the battle at Rangiriri, he realised the cause was lost. He wished to surrender, but was dissuaded from doing so. On 27 May 1865, following the Hauhau outrages which culminated in Volkner's murder at Opotiki, Tamihana surrendered and went to Wellington to plead for the return of his confiscated lands. Although treated with great deference by the Government he returned home unsuccessful and broken in health. But he continued to petition the Government until his death at Peria, on 27 December 1866. On his deathbed he enjoined his people to stand by the Government and the law.

Tamihana inherited all his father's vigorous traits. He was courageous, determined, and diplomatic; and after he was converted to Christianity he decided never to fight again. Although he was distrusted by the Government, Tamihana was a man of impeccable principles. Gorst, his sympathetic opponent in Waikato politics, considered Tamihana one of the most able debaters and keenest thinkers he had ever met. The justice he sought came at length in 1946 when the Government granted the Waikato tribes £6,000 annually for 50 years and, thereafter, £5,000 annually in perpetuity.

by Robert Ritchie Alexander, M.A., DIP.ED.(N.Z.), B.T.(CALCUTTA), PH.D.(MINNESOTA), Teachers' Training College, Christchurch.

• The Origin of the Maori Wars, Sinclair, K. (1957)
• The Maori King, Gorst, J. E. (1959)
• Tamihana The Kingmaker, Rickard, L. S. (1963).

(1776–1838).

Chief of the Ngati Haua tribe of the Waikato.

A new biography of Te Waharoa appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

When still an infant, Te Waharoa with his widowed mother was taken captive by Ngati Whakaue of Rotorua, whose chief later regretted having allowed him to grow to manhood and to return to his own tribe. Waharoa played a part in driving Ngati Raukawa from the Waikato. Their place was taken by Ngati Maru but, after years of skirmishing and a final battle at Taumata-wiwi near Karapiro, Waharoa forced them to return to their lands at Thames.

In 1834 Te Waharoa showed a desire to live in peace and to have a missionary stationed at Matamata, but the following year he took the field against Ngati Whakaue to avenge his cousin's murder, sacking Maketu and besieging Ohinemutu.

Archdeacon Brown, who knew the old cannibal chief well, wrote: “Waharoa was a remarkable character, fierce, bloody, cruel, vindictive, cunning and brave and yet, from whatever motive, a friend of the mission”. Waharoa died at Matamata on 20 September 1838 and was succeeded by his second son, Wiremu Tamihana, the so-called king maker.

by John March Booth, M.A., DIP.ANTHR.(LOND.), Secretary, New Zealand Maori Council, and the Polynesian Society, Wellington.

• The Story of Te Waharoa, Wilson, J. A. (1866)
• Such Things Were, Vennell, C. W. (1939).

Also known as Reihana Te Huatare, and Reihana Whakahoehoe (c. 1827–97).

Ngati Maniapoto chief.

A new biography of Wahanui Huatare appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Wahanui was born about 1827 and was the son of Wahanui Huatare, a highborn chief of the Ngati Maniapoto tribe. He was originally intended for the ministry and was educated at the Wesleyan College at Three Kings, Auckland, where he showed a remarkable aptitude for his studies. In the 1850s he aided the Government and organised a mail service between Te Awamutu and Napier. The social grievances of the Maori people led him to turn against Pakeha institutions, and he joined the “King” movement where his gifts as an orator soon made him a leading figure in the “King's” counsels. At Whataroa, beyond Hangatiki, Wahanui organised his own tribal administration on European lines, and this, according to Gorst, provided the best system of Maori law enforcement in New Zealand.

During the Waikato War Wahanui fought against the Government. He was in every engagement, including Orakau, and was wounded at Hairini. After Orakau he returned to Hangatiki. In the late 1860s he again allowed the Government mails to pass through his territories, although he resisted all other advances. In this period he became host to Tawhiao and also to the exiled Waikato tribe, and he earned the reputation of being the power behind the “King's” throne. After 1872 he also granted sanctuary to Te Kooti and his followers.

On 11 July 1881 Wahanui was the principal speaker at Alexandra (Pirongia) when Tawhiao made his submission to Major William Mair. In 1883 he led the party which rescued Hursthouse's surveyors who had been seized by Te Mahuki, the Maori prophet. Later in the year he assisted Government surveyors in the King Country, but he resisted all inducements to sell his lands. He also visited Wellington at this time to discuss land questions and, on this occasion, demanded that the King Country tribes should be permitted to fix their own territorial boundaries and suppress liquor and immorality within them. On 1 November 1884 Wahanui appeared before the Bar of the House of Representatives, where, once more, he eloquently pleaded the King Country tribes' case. In the following year he attended the ceremony at which Stout turned the first sod on the Main Trunk railway. In 1886 he consented to stand for the Western Maori seat in the House of Representatives, but withdrew his candidature before polling day. In return for his agreement to allow the Government to build the Main Trunk railway through the King Country, Wahanui received a house at Pirongia, a free pass on the New Zealand Railways, and an annual pension of £100. To some extent his acceptance of these gifts caused him to lose favour with his own people. In his latter days he lived at Whataroa, and died there on 5 December 1897, leaving no issue.

Wahanui was a man of herculean physique and stood 6 ft 8 in. in height. He was lightly tattooed and bore himself with dignity. Kerry-Nicholls, who knew him well, remarked that, had he lived in England, Wahanui would have been a nobleman of pronounced Tory principles.

by Walter Hugh Ross, Journalist, Taupo.

• Appendices to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1953, H. 25, “Liquor in the King Country”, McLintock, A. H.
• The King Country, Kerry-Nicholls, J. H. (1884)
• The Maori King, Gorst, J. E. (1959)
• New Zealand Herald, 7 Dec 1897 (Obit).

(1849–1932).

Presbyterian minister and social worker.

A new biography of Waddell, Rutherford appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Rutherford Waddell was born in 1849 at Glen-arm, County Antrim, Ireland, a son of the Rev. Hugh Waddell. His mother was a sister of Captain Mayne Reid, the novelist. He was educated at the Royal Academical Institution, Belfast, and, after serving his apprenticeship as a draper, entered Queen's University (M.A., 1875) and studied at the Presbyterian Theological College in Belfast. In May 1877 he came to New Zealand under the auspices of the Canterbury Presbyterian Association and spent 18 months ministering to congregations at Lincoln and Prebbleton before being inducted into St. Andrew's Church, Dunedin, on 18 April 1879. Waddell brought to his new position a prophetic radicalism and introduced so many innovations that he was, on one occasion, forced to defend himself against a charge of “heresy”. Early in 1888 the appalling working conditions of the Dunedin seamstresses attracted his notice and he preached a fiery and outspoken sermon on “The Sin of Cheapness”. The Otago Daily Times took up the matter, and its capable reporter, Silas Spragg, conducted investigations which more than confirmed Waddell's allegations. Waddell received further support from George Fenwick, then managing director of the Otago Daily Times, who used the paper to good effect in the campaign. As a result of the disclosures, and of the great popular interest generated by their publication, the Government set up a Royal Commission – of which Waddell was a member – to look into the question of sweated labour. In 1890 this Commission reported, confirming Waddell's original charges, with the result that the Government introduced far-reaching legislation, tightening such matters as hours of work, conditions of apprenticeship, and creating the Arbitration Court. Among the many innovations Waddell made in his Church were: a Church cricket club (1880s); a missionary sustentation scheme (1905); and the first scientifically designed and equipped Sunday school (1911). In 1894 he founded and was first editor of Outlook – the official weekly of the Presbyterian Church in New Zealand. For these and similar services the Theological College of Belfast awarded him an honorary D.D. in 1897. Waddell was also active outside his Church: he founded the Prison Reform Association and, with the aid of Mark Cohen and Mrs W. E. Reynolds, launched the Free Kindergarten movement. He also campaigned actively to reform the land laws and abolish the liquor traffic. In aid of the latter cause he undertook several lecture tours abroad.

Waddell possessed a wide knowledge of English literature and his literary lectures attracted a considerable following in Dunedin. He had a natural dramatic gift which he exploited with great effect in the pulpit and on the public platform. In 1919 ill health, and especially increasing deafness, obliged him to retire from St. Andrew's. He died at Dunedin on 16 April 1932.

Rutherford Waddell was twice married: first, in Ireland, about 1883, to Kathleen Newman; and, secondly, at Melbourne, in 1924, to Christabel Duncan, who had been the deaconess he had brought to New Zealand in 1901. He had one daughter by his first marriage.

Like many other social reformers who were of slight physique, Waddell was sustained by the strength of his convictions. Although he was courteous by nature, with personal charm and a quiet and sympathetic humour, he took an uncompromising stand on those questions which he believed were vital issues. He unhesitatingly rejected the Victorian belief in democratic individualism which, to the alarm of certain of his colleagues, he found incompatible with the needs of a poverty-stricken community. Thus Christianity was a creed for life itself, and the social crusade an expression of Christian service. Closely associated in much of this work with his fellow minister, D. M. Stuart, Waddell soon spread his influence far beyond the boundaries of St. Andrew's Church. “It is at once humbling and inspiring to think of the length and never-failing quality of the service that he rendered to the Church and to the whole community in Dunedin from the date of his induction to the day of his death”– so wrote Collie, his biographer.

by Bernard John Foster, M.A., Research Officer, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington and Alexander Hare McLintock, C.B.E., M.A., DIP.ED. (N.Z.), PH.D.(LOND.), Parliamentary Historian, Wellington.

• History of Otago, McLintock, A. H. (1949)
• Rutherford Waddell, Collie, J. (1932)
• Outlook, 25 Apr, 2 May 1932 (Obits)
• Otago Daily Times, 18 Apr 1932 (Obit)
• Evening Star (Dunedin), 18 Apr 1932 (Obit).

(Coriaria arborea).

A plant that has attracted much attention because of its poisonous properties is tutu, a shrub growing, at most, to a height of about 20 ft. It occurs in shrubland and in open places in coastal and montane forest throughout New Zealand and the Chatham Islands. It often comes in profusely on cuttings running through damp forest. It is a straggling plant, much branched from the base and with four-angled branches. The leaves are opposite and on slender stems, the whole looking like a pinnate leaf. Each leaf is 1–3 in. long, about broad-ovate and acute. The small flowers are arranged in drooping racemes, 6 in. or more in length. The petals, later juicy and purplish-black, embrace the fruit.

The poisonous principle is a toxin, tutin, which occurs in all parts of the plant except the fleshy petals. Tutu has been responsible for the greatest percentage of stock poisoning by plants in New Zealand. Sheep and cattle are mostly affected. Occasionally poisoning of human beings by honey has been attributed to the honeydew from tutu which has been collected by bees.

The genus Coriaria is the only one of the family Coriariaceae. There are about 30 species, mostly shrubs, found in southern Europe, eastern Asia, south and central America, and New Zealand where there are seven other species besides that of C. arborea. Most of these are small shrubs with small leaves. C. plumosa, for example, is a prostrate plant under a foot high with leaves a fraction of an inch long only.

by Alec Lindsay Poole, M.SC., B.FOR.SC., F.R.S.N.Z., Director-General of Forests, Wellington.

Mount Tutoko is a massive peak in the Darran Range, lying between the lower Hollyford Valley and Milford Sound at the head of Tutoko River, a tributary of the Cleddau, rising to 9,042 ft above sea level. This peak is the highest in Fiordland and supports permanent snow fields and several large hanging glaciers, the largest of which are the Donne and Age. Two subsidiary summits (9,030 ft and 9,020 ft) lie immediately south of the main peak, which is joined to the south-east by Mount Madeline. Access is most commonly gained from the head of the Tutoko River via some part of the Age Glacier. The Tutoko Valley was first visited in the 1890s and names associated with early exploration include Donald Sutherland, Malcolm and Kevin Ross, J. C. Fyfe, W. J. Hodgkins, Dr J. R. Don, W. G. Grave, J. R. Murrell, and E. R. Williams. In 1919 Samuel Turner began a series of expeditions in the area and in 1924 made the first ascent by way of the north-west ridge with the Alpine guide, Peter Graham.

Although not an accessible tourist attraction, Mount Tutoko presents a magnificent view from the Tutoko Bridge on the Te Anau-Milford road.

It is generally considered that Hector named the mountain in 1863, after Tutoko, a chief who lived at Martin's Bay. There is, however, much uncertainty as to the origin of the name. It may pre-date the Acheron survey (1850-51).

by Bryce Leslie Wood, M.SC., New Zealand Geological Survey, Dunedin.

With a catchment area of 345 sq. miles, the Tutaekuri River rises on the western and southern faces of the Kaweka Range (highest point, Kaweka, 5,594 ft) and flows south-eastwards to enter the sea 4 miles south of Napier. It has one major tributary, the Mangaone River. Although the headwater area is composed of hard greywacke rocks and the river bed contains greywacke shingle, the bulk of the drainage area is Wanganuian (Pliocene and Lower Pleistocene) mudstones, sandstones, and limestones. Floodwaters of this river are therefore rather muddy from the suspended fine sediment eroded from the country to the east of the Black Birch Range. Early in the period of European settlement, the Tutaekuri River flowed north across the Ahuriri Plains through the present Marewa and Onekawa areas of Napier into the Ahuriri Lagoon and out to sea through a cut at Westshore.

The present outlet at Clive, common both to the Ngaruroro and to the Tutaekuri Rivers, is the product of river-control work since the Napier earthquake of 1931. Periodic intense rainfalls have caused severe flooding by the Tutaekuri River. In 1867 Clive Square in Napier was flooded and the Waitangi River bridge carried away. In 1897 the river rose to such an extent that parts of Napier were flooded to a depth of 4 ft and floodwaters flowed through the township of Taradale. In 1917 floodwaters from the river rose 6 in. higher and Meeanee, Taradale, Greenmeadows, and Napier were flooded. Other floods occurred in 1893, 1924, 1927, 1929, 1932 (four times), 1933, 1934, and 1938. River-control work now appears to have successfully contained the river, although in 1963 during the Tangoio floods the river rose to within 3 in. of the top of the stop-banks at Awatoto before it cut a separate direct outlet to the sea. The minimum measured flow was 82 cusecs in 1946 and maximum flow, 96,500 cusecs in 1943.

T.L.G.-T.

(1834–1906).

Canterbury shipowner.

Charles Wesley Turner was born in Tasmania in 1834, son of the Rev. Nathaniel Turner, a pioneer missionary who landed at the Bay of Islands on 23 August 1823. He was educated at Hobart and Sydney and entered the service of the Union Bank of Australia. He married in 1857 and in that year came across to Lyttelton and was in charge of the branch there till he returned to Australia in 1858. He was back in New Zealand in 1861, this time to open branches of the Bank of New South Wales.

He inherited, no doubt from his father, a strong religious strain and he preached on Sundays as vigorously as he dealt in the markets on weekdays; and his speculative ventures led him to peaks of success and through troughs of failure. He and another young man called Beverley Buchanan bought the business known as Peacock and Co. in 1862; this included Peacocks Wharf at Lyttelton, a fleet of small trading vessels, lighters, warehouses, and other property; and they leased the Government Wharf as well. In 1867 they were bankrupt and the figures for the time were staggering; their assets stood at £215,039 and their liabilities were £226,025. Turner was soon on his feet again and within months was auctioning sugar and tea.

When the New Zealand Shipping Co. was floated in 1873, he was selected for the responsible and difficult task of founding a London office and securing a fleet of ships. Within 16 months he had opened the office, made the company's name known, chartered 37 vessels and bought four more, and made preliminary arrangements for building the company's fleet. He was elected to the board on his return. He built up another fleet of vessels and then turned his attention to flourmilling. It appears that he made an attempt to corner the flour market of Canterbury. He bought in turn the City Mill, Christchurch, the Canterbury Mill, Ashburton, Allens Mill, Timaru, and a share in the Belford Mill, Timaru. By this time the disastrous nineties were too much for him and he was bankrupt again.

On 16 June 1857 Turner married Emily Susanna Reece, daughter of Lancelot Iredale, of Surry Hills, Sydney. He died on 25 October 1906, aged 73.

by George Ranald Macdonald, Retired Farmer, Kaiapoi R.D.

• Old Christchurch in Picture and Story, Andersen, J. C. (1949)
• Lyttelton Times, 26 Oct 1906 (Obit).