(c. 1815–87).

Ngati Awa chief and member of the Legislative Council.

A new biography of Ngatata, Wiremu Tako appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Wi Tako Ngatata was born in Taranaki during the time of the Waikato intertribal wars, and was the son of MakoreNgatata-i-te Rangi. He was also a very near relative of Dicky Barrett's wife. There is some doubt about the precise date of his birth because some authorities have found difficulty in disentangling the early careers of father and son. He came to the Wellington district either with the Nihoputa heke (1824) or the Uaua heke in 1830 and settled at the Kumutoto kainga. On 27 September 1840 he received from Colonel Wakefield a share of the payment for the purchase of Wellington and signed the deed of sale on his father's behalf. About 1842 he succeeded to the chieftainship of the Ngati Awa tribe and, a year later, was involved in a newspaper dispute with E. J. Wakefield over the latter's report of a conversation with Te Rauparaha. On the outbreak of hostilities in the Hutt Valley, Wi Tako took the field with a force of friendly Maoris and succeeded in driving Te Rangihaeata from Taita to Pouwha, a place about 2 miles beyond Paekakariki. After peace was restored, Wi Tako was appointed Native Assessor and, in this capacity, materially aided McLean to purchase several large land blocks, principally in the Hawke's Bay district.

During the 1850s Wi Tako remained aloof from the growing “King” movement but found his loyalty severely tried by the Government's handling of the Waitara dispute. On this issue he supported his relative, Wiremu Kingi Te Rangitake, in the belief that Teira had no right to sell the Waitara lands. In 1860 he paid a visit to Ngaruawahia, where he conferred with Tawhiao, Wiremu Tamihana Te Waharoa, and other “Kingite” leaders. For a while he inclined towards joining the “King” movement and he did not hesitate to tell Sir George Grey when he interviewed him on 9 October 1862 that his reason for this inclination was “the crookedness of the Pakeha”. Some time after the Waikato War broke out, he made his peace with Fox. When he did so he made it conditional that his men be permitted to retain their arms. About this time he helped Featherston to persuade Wairarapa Kingite chiefs from taking up arms against the Europeans. In the mid-sixties, as a staunch Roman Catholic, Wi Tako deprecated the spread of Hauhauism. After Volkner's murder, he accompanied Samuel Williams to the Bay of Plenty district where, by his oratory and personal prestige, he did much to neutralise the work of Patara and Kereopa.

On 11 October 1872 Wi Tako was called to the Legislative Council. His appointment was one of the prerequisites for the formation of the Waterhouse Ministry and he thus became the first Maori to hold a seat in the New Zealand Upper House. At this time he also became a member of the Board of Native Trustees and continued in both posts until his death. He was present at the unofficial meeting with Tapihana and Tu Tawhiao, which led to McLean's visit to the King Country in 1875 which, in turn, paved the way for the final peace with the King tribes in 1881. Wi Tako died in Wellington on 8 November 1887.

Wi Tako was twice married and had eight children, of whom only one survived him. This was Hokepine (Josephine), the wife of Daniel Love and grandmother of Lieutenant-Colonel Love.

Wi Tako Ngatata was considered by many of his European contemporaries to have been the most astute Maori chief of his generation. It was also thought that his continued loyalty during the Maori Wars had been the deciding factor between victory and defeat for the colonists of the time.

by Bernard John Foster, M.A., Research Officer, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington.

• N.Z.P.D. Vol. 58, 10 Nov 1887, l.c. 9 (Obit)
• Sir Donald McLean, Cowan, J. (1940)
• Adventure in New Zealand, Wakefield, E. J. (1955)
• Evening Post, 10 Nov 1887 (Obit)
• Otago Daily Times, 21 Nov 1887 (Obit).

(c. 1790–1854).

Te Ati Awa chief.

A new biography of Ngatata-i-te-rangi appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Makore Ngatata was born in Taranaki about 1790, the son of Rangiwhetiki and Pakanga. Through his mother he was a great grandson of Te Whiti-o-Rongomai I, founder of the Ngati Whiti branch of Te Ati Awa. Ngatata spent his first 30 years in Taranaki, but little is known of this part of his life. He is said to have been one of the few survivors of the Taranaki taua's attack on Rewarewa pa in 1806. He was probably among the defenders of Pukerangiora, during the first Waikato invasion. Because he feared his tribe's ability to hold out against the musket-bearing Waikato, he determined to move away from Taranaki. In 1824 he led some of his people in the Nihoputa heke, which was attacked by Ngati Rauru while it was passing through their country en route for the Otaki district. Two years later a Te Ati Awa party, under Wharepouri, was attacked by the Ngati Ruanui and a chief, Te Karawa, was killed. As a result of this the Te Ati Awa sent Ngatata to seek the aid of the Waikatos. He interviewed Te Wherowhero at Motepoho and then went on to Mangatoatoa, where he addressed the assembled Waikato chiefs with such effect that a party of 4,000 warriors, under such notable chiefs as Te Waharoa, Tarapipipi and Naera, accompanied him back to Taranaki. There they were joined by Wharepouri and a large party of Te Ati Awas and the combined forces waged a fierce campaign against Ngati Ruanui.

In 1829 Ngatata led a taua to avenge the attack on the 1824 heke. Two years later his tribe were among the defenders of Pukerangiora pa and, after its fall to the Waikatos in December 1831, Ngatata was one of those who, along with Dicky Barrett, successfully defended Ngamotu pa (New Plymouth) when 350 Waikato warriors were killed. After the siege Ngatata and other survivors emigrated southwards to join their relatives who had settled at Otaki, Wellington, and in the Queen Charlotte Sound area. In the Wellington area they fought many skirmishes against the Ngati Kahungunu settled there.

In 1840, when Ngatata was a very old man, he placed his signature on the Treaty of Waitangi and, through his son, Wi Tako, assented to the sale of Wellington lands to Colonel Wakefield.

In 1842 Ngatata retired from his chieftainship in favour of Wi Tako. From then until his death he lived quietly near Wellington. He died at the Otago Heads in 1854 while visiting his daughter, Karoraina, who had married Taiaroa, the Otago chief. Ngatata's wife, Whetowheto of the Ngati Ruanui, died at Wellington and was buried at Waikanae.

by Bernard John Foster, M.A., Research Officer, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington.

• Tainui, Kelly, L. G. (1949)
• History of Taranaki, Wells, B. (1878)
• History and Traditions of the Taranaki Coast, Smith, S. P. (1910).

After his defeat at Makaretu on 3 December 1868, Te Kooti, together with 300 men and a number of women and children, took up his position at Ngatapa, about 6 miles away. Ngatapa Pa, in Whitmore's opinion, was the strongest and most formidable fortress he had ever seen in New Zealand. A single cone-shaped mountain, about 2,000 ft high and conspicuous from its height and isolation, rose abruptly out of a confused mass of forest-clad hills. It was covered with bush, some of which had been burned leaving the summit bare. The apex of the hill was girt by a triple line of parapets, the inner two of which stood 10 and 16 ft high respectively. Rifle pits guarded the front and the water supply, which lay about 2 chains outside the fort's perimeter. A steeply scarped ridge terminated the parapets on one side while, on the other, a 200-ft precipice prevented any attack from that direction. Behind the apex a single ladder gave access to a knoll upon which the women's kainga stood, and Whitmore considered that this ladder provided the sole means of escape for the garrison.

On 5 December 1868 Ropata and Preece attacked Ngatapa with two companies of friendly Maoris. They penetrated the defences, but had to retire when their ammunition became short and when the main body of the Ngati Porou contingent refused to fight Te Kooti. Ropata, who was disgusted by this defection, returned to Waiapu to recruit a fresh force. Although Whitmore was anxious to invest Ngatapa at once, he agreed to wait at Patutahi until an adequate force could be gathered.

While he was waiting, Whitmore perfected his arrangements for reducing the fortress. Bearing in mind the difficult nature of the terrain, he planned to send troops to prevent a possible escape from the rear while he led the main body against the front. There he intended to construct a sap trench under the parapets and thus gain a foothold inside the pa. Major Roberts' Regiment and some of the Ngati Porou were to guard the scarped face while Major Fraser would cut off any retreat along the narrow ridge in the rear. Near Robert's position Whitmore proposed to place his Cohorn mortars, which would have to fire vertically into the pa. The precipice remained unguarded, because he considered it impracticable as an avenue of escape.

On 24 December 1868 Whitmore pushed his troops ahead from Fort Fraser, at Patutahi. He camped about a mile from Ngatapa on 27 December, where Ropata joined him two days later. At daylight on 31 December Major Fraser occupied a knob on the same ridge as the pa while Whitmore deployed his forces for the frontal attack. It rained heavily on 1 January 1869, but on the following day he commenced the sap. Te Kooti's sharpshooters slowed down progress and the garrison made several determined attempts to break out, both then and on the two succeeding days. During this time Whitmore's mortars continued their bombardment, but on 4 January Fraser doubted whether he could contain any further enemy efforts to break out. As night approached, Whitmore's men pierced both ends of the first rampart and occupied the outer defences of the pa. At this stage Te Kooti realised that the position was hopeless and he, his men, and some of the women let themselves down the precipice on the flax ropes. They were detected escaping in the direction of the Wharekopae Stream. Although Ropata and his men pursued them, Te Kooti and most of his party reached safety.

Whitmore's forces at Ngatapa consisted of 16 officers and 678 men, of whom 370 were Ropata's Ngati Porous. Colonial losses were 11 killed and eight wounded, while Te Kooti lost 136 killed. Four men received the New Zealand Cross for their services during the siege. These were Major Ropata, Lieutenant Preece, and Benjamin Biddle and Solomon Black, both of the Armed Constabulary.

by Bernard John Foster, M.A., Research Officer, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington.

• Appendices to the Journals of the House of Representatives: A. 3, A. 21 (1869)
• New Zealand Wars, Cowan, J. (1956).

(1874–1950).

Maori leader, politician, statesman, and scholar.

A new biography of Ngata, Apirana Turupa appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Apirana Turupa Ngata was born on 3 July 1874 at Kawaka, commonly known as Te Araroa, near East Cape. He was the eldest son of the 15 children born to Paratene Ngata, of the Ngati Porou, and of Katerina Naki, a half-caste Ngati Porou from Waipiro Bay. His parents had been married in 1867 and, as the union appeared to be barren, they believed that conception would be possible only if certain rituals were performed by a Maori high priest or Tohunga. Katerina therefore subjected herself to a special ritual, which was later claimed as the reason for Ngata's birth. Young Ngata was brought up by his mother's sister, the wife of Major Ropata, and named Apirana, after Ropata's eldest son. Ngata received his early education at the Waiomatatini Maori School and, at the age of 10, went to Te Aute College, where the headmaster was John Thornton, a devout Anglican Churchman and an outstanding classics scholar. Under Thornton's guidance Ngata matriculated and gained the Senior Makarini Scholarship and an additional bursary which enabled him to further his studies at Canterbury University College. He graduated B.A. with second-class honours in political science in 1893. In 1894 he articled himself to Sir Theophilus Cooper in Auckland and studied for his M.A. (graduated 1921) and also for his law degree. In 1897 he gained his LL.B. and was admitted as a barrister and solicitor. He therefore became the first Maori to graduate in a New Zealand University and was one of the very earliest New Zealanders to hold the degrees of B.A., LL.B. The honorary degree of Doctor of Literature was conferred upon him by the University of New Zealand in 1948.

At the outset of his career Ngata might easily have made a name for himself in law, but after a brief period he experienced an urge to work more directly with the Maori people, a service he regarded as the highest sphere of all. During the last decade of the nineteenth century the Maori population had fallen to approximately 40,000, or about 60,000 less than in 1840. Little wonder that the Maori was called a “dying race”. In keeping with this idea of service Ngata became travelling secretary for the Young Maori Party, a movement that grew from the Te Aute College Old Boys' Association. Ngata realised that worth-while results would be achieved only through existing tribal organisations, and generally this was the method under which the Young Maori Party functioned. As its programme was aimed at influencing Parliament to obtain legislation directly beneficial to the Maori, it became essential for a member of the party to enter the House of Representatives. In 1905, Ngata was elected a member of Parliament, where he remained until 1943. He represented the native race in Sir Joseph Ward's Ministry (1909–12) and was Minister of Native Affairs and Cook Islands in Ward's second Ministry (1928–30) and under Forbes (1930–34).

As a parliamentarian Ngata was never a strict party man; for him Maori problems came first. His Maori Land Development Scheme, inaugurated in 1931 when he was Minister of Maori Affairs, was one of the greatest achievements of his Parliamentary career. Throughout the length and breadth of New Zealand, undeveloped Maori lands were brought into production through Ngata's schemes. Ngata was also tireless in his efforts to raise the living standards of the Maori people and fervently believed it could be achieved only by raising their educational level. He worked for equal opportunity in education for the Maori youth, for the defining of Maori land tenures, for the participation by Maoris in European sports, and for organising a scheme for consolidating communally owned lands. He inaugurated the Maori Purposes Fund, which has accomplished much in the construction of Maori secondary schools, and he assisted with the formation of the Board of Ethnological Research.

Ngata stimulated a revival of interest in the language, history, and traditions both of the Maoris and of their Polynesian relations. He was president of the Polynesian Society for nine years, was chairman of the Geographic Board – the body to which all New Zealand place names are referred before adoption – and he was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Dominion Museum. In arts and crafts he maintained that the ideal was to train Maori youth in taste and judgment, so that they could develop their indigenous art forms and thereby appreciate the achievements of their own race. He, himself, set an example by encouraging the building of carved memorials or meeting houses. These, such as the reconstructed Rangiatea Church, were intended to meet all the requirements of the community, and some of the finest Maori art and skill have gone into these carvings.

As president of the Polynesian Society, Ngata was able to encourage ethnological research, both financially and through his own stimulating articles. His chief personal contribution in this field was his two-volume work Nga Moteatea, published in 1929. Over a period of 40 years he collected and recorded hundreds of the songs and chants of the various tribes, and these form the basis of the book. When he retired from Parliament he interested himself in the tribal history of the Ngati Porou and in the revised translation of the Maori Bible, as well as in the revision of William's Maori Dictionary. Ngata also published an essay on Anthropology and Government of Native Races in the Pacific, which Professor I. L. G. Sutherland has described as an able analysis of the contact of British civilisation on Polynesian peoples. Finally, he produced a well known work on civics, The Price of Citizenship.

When it was a question of raising funds for community purposes Ngata had no peer. He knew every avenue from which Government grants could be obtained; he knew the financial resources of every tribe and hapu and could assess almost to a penny the amount that could be raised at the various huis he organised. It was he who planned the campaign to raise the £50,000 required to endow the Ngarimu and Maori Battalion Scholarship and, from his deathbed, he conducted a campaign to obtain funds to extend and renovate the buildings at Te Aute College and at Hukarere Girls' School, Napier, on the occasion of the Te Aute centennial. During the First and Second World Wars Ngata's efforts were outstanding. He acted as chief recruiting officer for all tribes, and it was largely due to his efforts in Parliament that the Maoris remained volunteers. In recognition of these and other services to the Maori people, Ngata was knighted in 1927.

Ngata's courage and vision sometimes led him into situations which became embarrassing both to himself and to those associated with him. The most outstanding of these dealt with the misuse of public moneys – not for personal gain but for the benefit of the Maori people. In 1934 a Native Affairs Commission was set up to inquire into and report upon the Departments of Government concerned with administration of native affairs. This Commission presented an unfavourable report about Ngata's work as an administrator, especially where the accounting for public moneys set aside for Maori land development was concerned.

Administration must be sympathetic, patient, and friendly, and Ngata possessed these qualities. Unfortunately, however, his careless methods and personal status created great difficulty in the fulfilment of his administrative duties. As a Minister of the Crown, Ngata was bound to refrain from using State funds in the interests of his own tribe without lawful authority. Moreover, he was bound to restrain himself, as well as the leaders of other tribes, from adopting methods which relaxed the official control over State funds and stores. The Commission stated that Ngata failed repeatedly in these matters and produced some evidence to support this conclusion.

Throughout his life Sir Apirana Ngata had one goal – to uplift the Maori race spiritually, culturally, and economically. First and foremost he was the leader of his people – well equipped by temperament and education to wrestle with the many problems that confronted him. His was a magnetic personality, strengthened by rich gifts of oratory both in English and in Maori. In Parliament he proved a gifted and eloquent speaker and was reputed to be second to none as a political tactician. Rarely has the Maori point of view been more forcibly expressed.

Ngata died on 14 July 1950 at Waiomatatini. In January 1895 Ngata married Arihia Kane Tamati, of Whareponga, East Coast. He left four sons and four daughters.

by Ihakara Porutu Puketapu, B.A., Administration Officer, Department of Maori Affairs, Wellington and Robert Ritchie Alexander, M.A., DIP.ED.(N.Z.), B.T.(CALCUTTA), PH.D.(MINNESOTA), Teachers' Training College, Christchurch.

• Appendices to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1934. G. 11, Report of the Commission on Native Affairs
• Sir Apirana Ngata and Maori Culture, Ramsden, E. (1948)
• The History of Te Aute College, Alexander, R. R. (1951)
• Bay of Plenty Times, 1, 8, 9 Nov 1934, 15–20 Jul 1950 (Obits).

The Ngaruroro River (catchment area 970 sq. miles) rises on the north-east side of the Kaimanawa Mountains and flows along the south-west side of the Kaweka Range in forested country in a deeply incised gorge. It is joined by its only large tributary, the Taruarau, which drains the Ngamatea intramontane basin for some 5 miles before it, too, passes from the highlands of the main range on to the east coast lowlands. For some 13 miles it flows in a deeply incised course below broad Pleistocene terraces, before it passes on to the Heretaunga Plains, a deeply alluviated complex tectonic depression on the south-west shore of Hawke Bay. Alluvium carried down by the Ngaruroro and the neighbouring Tutaekuri and Tukituki Rivers has built up some 77 sq. miles of the plains to an average depth of 50 ft in the last 10,000 years.

The minimum flow is 300 cu. ft. per second. The largest flood on the Ngaruroro River occurred in 1867 when large areas of the plains as far north as Clive Square, in Napier, were flooded. A somewhat lesser flood in 1897 resulted in the river changing its course. In 1917 a flood almost as bad as that of 1867 occurred; the peak-measured flood (180,000 cusecs) was much smaller than any of these.

The Ngaruroro River charges a very important artesian basin in the Heretaunga Plains. Approximately half of its minimum flow of 300 cusecs passes into the underground aquifers, and eventually into the sea in submarine springs some 13½ miles off the coast. In the past, artesian pressures of nearly 40 ft were obtained at Clive, but recent very heavy use has reduced the pressures by nearly 20 ft.

The meaning of the name is obscure.

by Thomas Ludovic Grant-Taylor, M.SC., New Zealand Geological Survey, Lower Hutt.

Ngaruawahia is situated at the junction of the Waikato and Waipa Rivers in the central Waikato basin. To the west of the town the land is hilly, rising to the Hakarimata (Whawhapunga) Range. Elsewhere the district consists of alluvial plain. The North Island Main Trunk railway and the main Auckland-Hamilton highway pass through the town. Hamilton, the nearest city, is 12 miles south-east by rail or road; Auckland is 70 miles north-west by road.

Ngaruawahia is a servicing and distributing centre for a predominantly dairy farming district. Sheep raising is practised in the hilly country to the west, and lambs are fattened on the flats. Pig raising, associated with dairy farming, and poultry farming, are also important. There are several dairy factories in the district producing butter, cheese, and casein. At Horotiu (3½ miles south-east) there is a large meat-freezing works, a sausage-casing works, a pumice-sand plant, and joinery and sawmilling establishments. The most important industries of Ngaruawahia include the manufacture of farm machinery and field tiles; the making of knitwear; general engineering, and sawmilling.

Because of its situation at the junction of two important canoe waterways, Ngaruawahia was an important Maori settlement in early times. Intensive exploration of the Waikato district by pioneer missionaries commenced in 1830–31 and most of these passed through Ngaruawahia. Earlier, several Europeans had visited the area and some had settled. Captain John Rodolphus Kent, a trader, established permanent headquarters at Ngaruawahia in 1831, having been wrecked at Kawhia Harbour in 1828. In 1858 Te Wherowhero was invested at Ngaruawahia as Maori King with the title Potatau I. During the Waikato War the village was fortified with extensive earthworks to repel the advance of the force commanded by General Sir Duncan Cameron. Under Tawhiao the village was abandoned when it was realised that it could not be defended against armoured gunboats. The village was occupied by British and Colonial troops on 8 December 1863 and became General Cameron's headquarters until after the Waikato War. The town was surveyed in 1864 and in October the sale of sections commenced. This action was illegal as the land still belonged to the Maoris, but the purchase of the site was soon negotiated satisfactorily by the Rev. Henry Hanson Turton on behalf of the Government. The town expanded under the name of Newcastle and was planned to become the chief centre of the Waikato. In 1867 a military road from Auckland was completed and in 1877 the railway from Auckland reached the town. River transport consequently declined in importance. For many years coal was mined at Glen Massey (6 miles west). The branch railway linking the collieries with Ngaruawahia was closed in 1958, when mining declined. In 1867 Ngaruawahia, then called Newcastle, was made a highway district; in 1871 it became a town district; and in 1920 it was constituted a borough. The name Ngaruawahia means “Break open the food pits”.

POPULATION: 1951 census, 2,124; 1956 census, 2,703; 1961 census, 3,275.

by Brian Newton Davis, M.A., Vicar, St. Philips, Karori West, Wellington and Edward Stewart Dollimore, Research Officer, Department of Lands and Survey, Wellington.

(1919–43).

Maori Victoria Cross winner.

A new biography of Ngarimu, Te Moananui-a-Kiwa appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Ngarimu was born on 7 April 1919 at Whareponga (the ancient seat of the Aitanga-a-mate, subtribe of the Ngati Porou) north of Waipiro Bay where his father, Hamiera Ngarimu, an important chief of the Ngati Porou, had a sheep station. On his mother's side he was descended from the Whanau-a-Apanui tribe – from Toi. Ngarimu was educated at Whareponga, at Hirukirama Native School and, finally, at Te Aute College, where he gained a reputation for rugby and sport. In 1935 he began working on his father's sheep-station, and two years later he represented the East Coast in rugby. On the outbreak of war he enlisted in the Maori Battalion, and on 1 May 1940 sailed with the Second Echelon of the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force. He was commissioned on Anzac Day 1942, and served as an intelligence officer until he was called upon to command a platoon of C Company (Ngati Porou) of the Maori Battalion.

During the action at the Tebaga Gap on 26 March 1943, Ngarimu commanded his platoon in an attack upon the vital hill feature, Point 209. He was ordered to attack and capture an under feature which was held in considerable strength by the enemy. Of this attack the citation to his posthumous Victoria Cross says: “He led his men with great determination and skill straight up the face of the hill, undeterred by the intense mortar and machine-gun fire which caused considerable casualties. Displaying courage and leadership of the highest order he was himself first on the hill crest, personally annihilating at least two enemy machine gun posts….” All through that night Ngarimu, although severely wounded, defended the position and, on the following morning, 27 March 1943, he was killed when the enemy made a particularly strong counter attack. On 1 June 1943 the King awarded Ngarimu the coveted Victoria Cross. He was the first Maori to receive this honour.

In commemoration of this exploit the Ngarimu V.C. and 28th Maori Battalion Memorial Scholarship Fund was inaugurated in 1945.

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

• Supplement to the London Gazette, 1 June 1943
• (Citation);Miscellaneous MSS Folder R. 11, Turnbull Library.

(c. 1804–85).

Waikato chief.

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

Ngapora was a chief of very high rank in the Ngati Mahuta branch of the Waikato tribe and was a younger brother (or half-brother) of Te Wherowhero. As a very young man he assisted in the defence of Matakitaki pa during Hongi Hika's invasion. He also took part in the Taranaki expeditions of 1829 and 1830. When the first missions were opened among the Waikatos, Ngapora and his family embraced Christianity and, for many years, he acted as a native teacher. In the early 1850s he led his people in raising the funds necessary to construct a stone church in his village.

When Te Wherowhero accepted Grey's invitation to settle at Mangere, Ngapora accompanied him. Grey appointed him Native Assessor and, in this connection, it is recorded that he was especially zealous in the temperance cause. On 3 April 1848 he addressed an important letter to Sir George Grey on the state of the Maoris. In this he complained that traditional Maori tribal authority was decaying and that, as no British institutions were coming in to take their place, there was imminent danger of anarchy. Grey referred Ngapora's letter to the Colonial Office with an assurance that the situation would be met adequately by the provisions of his Resident Magistrates' Ordinance. At the Colonial Office Earl Grey was most impressed by Ngapora's “affecting letter” and, in a long dispatch, urged the Governor to do his utmost to uphold the authority of the chiefs. But Grey had other ideas and dispatch was discreetly set aside.

The Maori “King” movement, which arose out of events in these and subsequent years, was an attempt by the Maoris to remedy this situation. When the growing influence of the movement obliged Te Wherowhero to withdraw from Mangere, he deputed Ngapora to remain there to keep in touch with the Government. In 1858, after the “King” movement was launched, Ngapora reported the proceedings to Governor Gore Brown. At this time he personally favoured Te Wherowhero as paramount chief of the Waikato, but not as king. Later in the same year Te Wherowhero designated Ngapora to be his successor in the kingship; however, Wiremu Tamehana Te Waharoa later secured Tawhiao's succession. In making this change, Tamehana was probably influenced by Ngapora's speech at the Ngaruawahia meeting in May 1860 when, as the spokesman of Te Wherowhero, he had spoken against the idea of separate Maori nationality and suggested that differences between the races should be settled by arbitration. To this he added an opinion to the effect that Wiremu Kingi Te Rangitaki ought to give up Waitara because the Governor had paid for it.

Shortly after Grey's return to New Zealand, Ngapora had a private interview with him and received assurances of his peaceful intentions towards the Waikato tribes. He then went to Ngaruawahia, where he endeavoured to persuade the chiefs to send a deputation to the Governor. Tamihana and the Waikatos favoured the idea, but Rewi and the Maniapotos refused to cooperate unless the Maori King's independence was recognised formally. Ngapora duly led the deputation to Auckland, but all his efforts to reconcile Grey and the “King” tribes were foiled by Rewi's intransigence. All the Governor could do, in effect, was to express general disapproval of their sentiments while he assured them of his peaceful intentions.

In July 1863, after Gorst's expulsion from the Waikato, Kukutai and Ngapora warned Grey that war parties were forming to attack Auckland. As a result of this, the Domett Government issued a proclamation calling upon the Maoris living in the district to surrender their arms and sign an oath of allegiance to the Queen. All who failed to obey were required to retire beyond the Mangatawhiri Stream – the then border of the “King Country” (q.v.). Ngapora, who considered the proclamation an affront to his loyalty, refused to sign the oath and his people followed his example. In the weeks which followed, the proclamation was haphazardly applied and harshly enforced. The colonial troops appeared to be out of control at times and looted Maori settlements indiscriminately. It was this treatment, more than anything else, that embittered Ngapora and turned him against any compromise with the Europeans.

After the outbreak of war Ngapora took no part in the hostilities. As his daughter was Tawhiao's principal wife, this, together with his education and intelligence, gave him enormous prestige among the King's counsellors. When the Waikatos evacuated their territories to the north, Ngapora took up his residence at Tokangamutu (Te Kuiti). He was a greatly disillusioned man and, for a time, leaned towards Hauhauism. It was at this period that he changed his name to Manuhiri – “the guest”. In the late 1860s a strange rivalry developed between Rewi and Ngapora. Each had undergone a complete change of attitude and Rewi now wished to live in harmony with the Europeans while Ngapora had become the intransigent. In 1869 Ngapora opposed Te Kooti's appeal for Tawhiao's help and, three years later, he equally strongly reproved Ruru for his attack on James Mackay.

Because he believed Grey to be the author of their misfortunes, Ngapora cherished bitter feelings against the Governor and opposed his proposals at Te Kopua (January 1878) and at Hikurangi (May 1878). Shortly after the latter, Grey induced Cabinet to offer Ngapora an annual pension of £210, since he was too old to be called to the Legislative Council. Although he declined this, his grandson, Tu Tawhiao, persuaded him to accept a sum of money which was also offered. At the Te Kopua meeting in May 1879, Ngapora demanded that the Government should relinquish the lands confiscated in 1863 and withdraw all the Europeans then in occupation. From the whole tenor of the meeting it was apparent that he had the Waikato tribe behind him when he made these demands.

In 1880 W. G. Mair persuaded Ngapora to accept the Hall Government's offer of a small pension. Although this ended his passive opposition to the New Zealand Government, the old chief did not leave the King Country again. Nor did he accompany Tawhiao on his subsequent state visit to Auckland. Ngapora died at Whatiwhatihoe on 4 August 1885.

Lady Martin records that Ngapora was a very different type of man from Te Wherowhero – being short and thickset and fully tattooed. She says: “he was an exceptionally cautious man, a born diplomatist. He would ask any number of questions but would never commit himself to an expression of an opinion”.

by Bernard John Foster, M.A., Research Officer, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington.

• Our Maoris, Martin, Lady (1884)
• Crown Colony Government in New Zealand, McLintock, A. H. (1958)
• Sir George Grey, Rutherford, J. (1961)
• The Maori King, Gorst, J. E. (1959).

(Myoporum laetum).

This is one of the most common coastal trees, both in coastal forest and in open places, around the shores of New Zealand. It extends also to the Three Kings, Kermadec, and Chatham Islands. Because of its rapid growth, it is widely planted for quick shelter or ornament. The family to which it belongs, Myoporaceae, is a small one that is mainly Australian, but extends also to Malaya and further northwards around the Pacific. Myoporum is mainly an Australian genus with species extending as far as China and Japan. Australian species have been introduced into New Zealand and possibly hybridise with M. laetum.

Ngaio grows to a height of about 30 ft and is a much-branched, rounded tree. The leaves are bright green and somewhat fleshy, 2–4 in. long, oblong-lanceolate, and shallowly toothed in the upper half. They are thickly studded with oil glands in which bacteria live. Flowers are small and appear as little clusters in the axils of leaves. The fruit is a small purplish drupe.

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

(1886–1963).

Sixth Governor-General of New Zealand.

Cyril Louis Norton Newall was born on 15 February 1886, the son of Lieutenant-Colonel William Potter Newall of the Indian Army. He was educated at Bedford School and at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. In 1905 he joined the Royal Warwickshire Regiment and served in the Zakkha Khel Expedition in 1908. In the following year he transferred to the 2nd (King Edward's Own) Gurkhas, with whom he remained until 1914 when he joined the Royal Flying Corps. He served in the First World War, being mentioned in dispatches three times and was awarded the Albert Medal (first class) and, also, the C.B.E. In 1919 he was transferred to the Royal Air Force.

From 1919 until 1922 Lord Newall was Deputy Director of Personnel at the Air Ministry and, for the next two years, served as A.D.C. to King George V. He was appointed Air Officer Commanding the Special Reserve in 1925 and was Director of Operations and Intelligence and Deputy Chief of Air Staff from 1926 to 1931. Promoted to the rank of Air Vice-Marshal in 1931, he served for one year as Additional Member of the Air Council before becoming Air Officer Commanding Wessex Bombing Area. For the next three years he commanded the Royal Air Force in the Middle East. At the close of this tour of duty he was knighted and returned to England as Member of the Air Council for Supply and Organisation (1935–37). In 1937 he was promoted to Air Chief Marshal and, from then until 1940, was Chief of Air Staff. In the latter year he was made a Marshal of the Royal Air Force and received the Order of Merit for his services during the early stages of the Second World War. On 10 February 1941 Lord Newall was designated to succeed Lord Galway as Governor-General of New Zealand. He assumed office on 22 February 1941 and retired on 6 June 1946. A month later he was elevated to the peerage and assumed the style “Baron Newall of Clifton-upon-Dunsmoor in the County of Warwick”. While he was in New Zealand Lord Newall played a leading part in the wartime patriotic movement.

Lord Newall married, first, on 18 January 1922, May Dulcie Weddell (who died in 1924); and, secondly, Olive Tennyson Foster, D.St.J., only daughter of Mrs Frances Storer Eaton, of Boston, United States. He had one son and two daughters by his second marriage. He died at London on 30 November 1963.

Lord Newall had been honoured by many countries. He held the Legion of Honour (France), the Order of the Crown of Italy, the Order of Leopold of Belgium, and the Belgian Croix de Guerre. More recently he had become vice-president of the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund.

by Bernard John Foster, M.A., Research Officer, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington.