The General Census

By 1851 the rapid growth and development of the colony had shown the need for regular, authentic population data on a uniform basis for the whole country. When the first general census was taken in 1851, the enumeration was left to the governments of New Ulster and New Munster, the two provinces into which the country was then divided, but identical census schedules were used throughout the colony. The census, which was confined to Europeans, revealed a population of 26,707.

The second general census should have been taken in 1854, but the sequence was upset by the intervention of the Imperial Act of 1852 which granted representative government to the colony, abolished the short-lived provinces of New Ulster and New Munster, and in their place constituted the six new provinces of Auckland, New Plymouth, Wellington, Nelson, Canterbury, and Otago. The individual provinces were to be responsible for the enumeration of their own inhabitants, but the results proved unsatisfactory and a new Census Act was passed in 1858. This Act instituted three-yearly censuses, of which the first was taken in December 1858 and the last in March 1874. In 1877 a new Census Act made provision for censuses in 1878 and 1881 and in every fifth year thereafter. This quinquennial sequence has been maintained to the present time, with two exceptions. The census due in 1931 was postponed owing to the economic depression; that due in 1941 was postponed until 1945 owing to wartime conditions. The sequence of five-yearly censuses was resumed in 1951.

The Maori Census

The first census of the Maori population was taken between September 1857 and September 1858. The total Maori population was given as 56,049, of whom 38,269 lived in the province of Auckland, but the published tables included the precautionary phrase, “as far as can be ascertained”. Warfare between Maoris and Europeans, which continued intermittently in certain areas of the North Island from 1860 until 1874, prevented any further general censuses of Maoris until 1874.

The Maori censuses of 1874 and 1878 simply covered the numbers in each subtribe, the sex, and age – whether over or under 15 years. The Maori census of 1881 showed an apparent increase in Maori numbers – from 45,542 in 1878 to 46,141 in 1881 – but this was viewed with scepticism by Native Department officers, who found it conflicting with their experience. It seems probable that the increase was due to an improved enumeration, and that the long decline in Maori numbers continued. At the census of 1886 a more precise and detailed enumeration was attempted, to include exact ages and details of stock and cultivated land. Many Maoris proved deeply suspicious of the Government's motives, especially when it came to the enumeration of stock and cultivations. When taking these early Maori censuses, the census officers did not visit every dwelling. Much of the information was obtained from the wise men and elders of the tribes. Accustomed as they were to the oral transmission of tribal history, legends, and information of all kinds, they were well acquainted with the details required.

In 1916 it was decided that, as the small minority of Maoris in the South Island did not justify the expense of a separate census, they should be enumerated in conjunction with the Europeans. The system proved satisfactory, and was used again in 1921. In 1926 the Maori census was taken on a specific night instead of following former procedure, and for the first time there was no separate organisation to deal with the Maori people. Instead, in districts with large Maori populations, special sub-enumerators were employed who were acquainted with Maori conditions and who either spoke Maori or were accompanied by interpreters. The Maori population was recorded in small divisions instead of, as previously, in total numbers for each county. For the first time, the North Island Maoris – the great bulk of the Maori population – were enumerated by means of schedules which were filled in by individual Maori householders. A special Maori schedule was produced, of simplified scope and character, and with the headings and questions printed both in English and in Maori. Some 83 per cent of North Island Maoris used this form; the remainder used the normal European schedule.

The Maori Census of 1926 proved successful, and the same methods were used in 1936 and 1945. For more recent censuses, no special Maori schedules have been provided. Maoris and Europeans alike are now required to complete the same types of schedules.

The Scope of the Modern Census

Population censuses in New Zealand are now taken under the authority of the Statistics Act of 1955, which continued the provision for a quinquennial census. While some countries such as Great Britain and the United States of America have a ten-yearly census, a five-yearly census is considered more suitable for those recently developed countries which have relatively rapid changes in population.

The potential field of census inquiry is enormous, but a variety of factors limit the actual inquiries made. These include:

1. The character and education of the people. This is a severely limiting factor in countries with a low standard of literacy or having a variety of races and languages. In New Zealand the standard of education is high and no great difficulties are experienced provided the questions are clearly expressed.

2. The attitude of public opinion. Complete and accurate information depends on the good will and cooperation of the people. It is important that the public should realise both the usefulness of the information obtained and the fact that individual returns are absolutely confidential.

3. The danger of overloading the census schedule.

4. The existence of other methods of obtaining the information required.

5. The question of expense.

The scope of the present-day New Zealand census is clearly indicated by the titles of the 10 volumes in which the results of the 1961 census have been published. They are: Increase and Location of Population; Ages and Marital Status; Religious Professions; Industries and Occupations; Incomes; Birthplaces and Duration of Residence of Overseas-born; Race; Maori Population and Dwellings; Dwellings and Households; and the General Report, which includes details of war service, dependent children, and usual places of residence. Two separate appendices contain life tables based on census and mortality statistics, and a census of poultry.

The types of schedules used have changed considerably over the years. In the early censuses a single large schedule was used for each household. Personal schedules were originally produced for use on shipboard and in hotels, camps, etc., but the privacy and convenience they offered led to a great extension of their use. For recent censuses two schedules have been used – a dwelling schedule, giving details of the dwelling, and a personal schedule for each person in the household.

Pre-European Population and Early Days of Settlement

At the beginning of the last century New Zealand was occupied by a Maori population estimated at between 100,000 and 200,000, and by about 50 Europeans. Today the total population has passed 2½ million; and the Maoris, once considered to be a dying race, have a rate of natural increase twice that of the European population.

The actual size of the pre-European Maori population is uncertain. Captain Cook, whose first visit to New Zealand was in 1769, estimated that there were about 100,000 Maoris, but he did not visit some of the most populous inland centres, and his estimate was almost certainly low. In all likelihood the true figure was at least double this. There seems no doubt that contact with Europeans was speedily followed by a serious decline in Maori numbers.

Information on early European numbers is equally scanty. At the beginning of the nineteenth century there was neither the need nor the machinery for collecting statistics of the small, scattered European settlements then existing. The figure of “about 50”, often quoted as the European population of New Zealand in 1800, is no more than a reasonable approximation. By 1815 the total of Europeans in New Zealand is believed to have been about 200. This increase reflects the expansion of trade and the growing numbers of traders and traders' agents settled ashore; the extension of whaling and sealing activities; and the establishment of the first mission. By the late 1830s the European population of New Zealand had risen to around 2,000.

In 1840 the first organised settlement, Britannia (Petone), was established by the New Zealand Company on the banks of the Hutt River. Threatened by flood, earthquake, and Maori hostility it was moved later that same year to Thorndon in Wellington. Edward Gibbon Wakefield, the founder of the Company, planned a New Zealand which should reproduce a little contemporary England, with the same pattern of social classes and a small mixed-farm economy. His success was only partial, but the real achievement of the New Zealand Company lay in bringing out about 12,000 settlers between 1840 and 1850; in the founding of the settlements of Wellington, Nelson, Taranaki, and Wanganui; and in the inspiration and example it gave to the two new associations that founded Otago in 1848 and Canterbury in 1850. Auckland was made the capital of the colony in 1840.

As a result of these colonising efforts, the European population in the period 1840–50 increased over tenfold, from about 2,050 at the beginning of 1840 to 22,108 in 1850.

New Zealand was proclaimed a separate colony in 1841 and some form of statistical investigation into the population of the new colony seems to have taken place in that year. From that time onward the arrival of immigrants and the relatively rapid growth in population showed the need for accurate and regular statistical investigation. For some years it was the custom to take the count of the population annually in the different settlements, often under the supervision of the local resident magistrates. Apparently, whalers and others living in remote settlements were not included, and as there was no uniformity regarding date, method, or scope of the inquiry, it was impossible to compile accurate statistical data for the country as a whole. The statistics obtained were preserved in a series of manuscript Blue Books.

(1801–71).

First Roman Catholic Bishop of the south-west Pacific.

A new biography of Pompallier, Jean Baptiste François appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

John Baptist Francis (Jean Baptiste Francois) Pompallier was born at Lyons, France, on 11 December 1801, of a well-to-do silk-manufacturing family. He worked in the silk trade; then was a dragoon officer; then passed through the Lyons' Seminaries (1825–29) and was ordained priest on 13 June 1829. Appointed to assist Marcellin Champagnat, founder of the Marist Teaching Brothers, he came to join the Marist Fathers, at that time an association of diocesan priests. He later became esteemed in Lyons as chaplain to a Marist college. After the nascent Society of Mary had accepted the proposed missionary field of Western Oceania, Gregory XVI set it up as a fully constituted Order on 29 April 1836. In May the Pope chose Pompallier as Bishop for the area, and on 30 June in Rome he was consecrated titular Bishop of Maronea. When the first 20 Marist priests took their vows on 24 September 1836, he merely took a promise of cooperation. He and his missionary group left Havre on 24 December for Valparaiso, Chile, a base of the Mission of Eastern Oceania. They then travelled westward by an American ship and visited the new missions at Mangareva and at Tahiti. On 4 October 1837, Pompallier and his three Marist priests and three brothers left Tahiti in a hired schooner to enter their own territory. He placed four men at Wallis and Futuna – islands up to then opposed to Christianity – and before proceeding to New Zealand he made contact in December with Bishop Polding in Sydney, then the metropolis of the South Pacific. He decided to land on Hokianga Harbour where were settled the Poyntons and other Catholics known to Polding.

These Catholics welcomed the Bishop, Father L. C. Servant, and Brother Michael Colomban on 10 January 1838, but hostility stirred up by British Protestants was bitter and prolonged. Besides the religious issue there was the question of nationality. Though the mission had no support from the French Government, it did keep alive earlier local fears of French annexation recently renewed by the adventurer, de Thierry.

Pompallier's courage, bearing, and courtesy impressed many of the Maori chiefs, and the respect shown him at the Bay of Islands by Cécile of the corvette Héroine in May and by Du Petit-Thouars of the 2,000-ton frigate Venus in November 1838 caused his mana to rise. Though he was glad of the warships' protection, his Instructions to Missionaries (probably written in 1838) prove that he was no agent for French interests. (This was incomprehensible to the Church Missionary Society which was so closely tied up with the Colonial Office, nor could Busby's suspicions be lulled even though he admired Pompallier as a man.) In June 1839 more men and long-awaited funds came from Lyons, and in July Pompallier made his headquarters at Kororareka. There for a time he had a hospital cum-dispensary under a doctor. Europeans who met the Bishop noted his pleasing personality and his dedicated zeal for the interests of his fellow men, regardless of their race or creed. A third station was opened at Whangaroa in January 1840. These first two years had shown his high capacity for pioneering work. He had been all over the north and had succeeded with tribes hitherto intractable.

At this time Captain William Hobson arrived at the Bay of Islands to establish British rule. Pompallier took no sides during the Waitangi negotiations but his growing influence had helped to move the British missionaries not only to abandon their earlier theocratic plans and their objections to lay colonisation but even to become Hobson's most effective assistants. The Bishop was present at Waitangi by Hobson's invitation. On the second day of the treaty negotiations he secured from him the assurance that the policy of his administration would be to protect all creeds.

The Tauranga mission was founded in March 1840. Fresh resources in July enabled the Bishop to buy the schooner Sancta Maria and go south for six months. On 22 November 1840 he held a service at Otakou (Otago Harbour) – in all probability the first of any Christian denomination to be held there – and he also preached in English at Wellington on Christmas Day. He then made two voyages to the tropics, in 1841 – after the news of St. Peter Chanel's martyrdom at Futuna – and again in 1842. Rome set up the Tropical Missions as a separate ecclesiastical territory in 1842 and Pompallier could thenceforth concentrate on New Zealand. By 1844 there were 12 stations – Hokianga, Bay of Islands, Whangaroa, Tauranga, Akaroa, Matamata, Wellington, Whakatane, Rotorua, Opotiki, Auckland, and Kaipara, cared for by 16 priests and 11 lay missionaries. There were 2,166 baptised Catholic Maoris and about 1,400 European Catholics. (In 1841 he reported that about 1,000 Maoris had been baptised with 45,000 under instruction.)

In 1844 Pompallier walked inland from the Bay of Plenty to the borders of Taranaki and back to Auckland. In 1845 he had Philip Viard, S.M., made his coadjutor and could depart in 1846 to make the customary report to the Pope. He had been much concerned about the Hone Heke War (1845–46) in which the disaffected chiefs had been stirred up by a handful of British and American mischief makers. Governor FitzRoy alleged in 1845 that the French missionaries were the culprits. His successor, Sir George Grey, corrected this officially in 1846 and vindicated Pompallier's pacificatory part.

To spread the faith the Bishop had often placed his men in isolation from each other and with meagre resources. This, and his unpracticality, intensified the spiritual and material privations involved in their work. For several years, in view of the stability of the mission, the Society of Mary had tried to safeguard the well-being of these missionaries. After discussions in Rome, the Bishop opted for diocesan priests, trusting they would be even more flexible and expendable helpers, and in 1848 Pius IX divided New Zealand into two dioceses. The Marist Fathers and Brothers were to transfer to the south under Bishop Viard. When Pompallier returned in 1850, he brought with him 10 diocesan clerics and eight Irish Sisters of Mercy. The Marists sailed for the south, except for four priests who stayed a year longer.

The period 1850–60 saw the Bishop more occupied with the colonists, and there were many Catholics among the British troops and military pensioners. He applied for naturalisation and was declared a British subject as from 1850. It was a fruitful time for him as far as writing went. In the 1840s he had produced certain works in haste, some on his own press at Kororareka. In them his grasp of Maori, if often criticised, was noteworthy in view of his circumstances. His Maori now was not only adequate but good. He wrote catechetical works, public letters to chiefs, and pastoral letters. In French he published a Historical Sketch of the Mission (indifferently translated in 1888) and a Maori Grammar.

Some of the 1850 recruits became excellent missionaries but their work was upset later by Maori disaffection over the land question. The mission personnel changed constantly, and despite fresh helpers from Europe and from the North Shore Seminary, Pompallier had only 10 priests in 1859. There were 20 Sisters of Mercy with five schools, the other nine Catholic schools being staffed by lay teachers. All, since 1847, were aided by Government funds. In 1859 the Bishop made his duty-visit to Rome. In 1860 he was made titular Bishop of Auckland. Among those he brought back were over 10 priests and clerics, eight Italian Friars Minor, two Brothers of St. Viator, and four French ladies, including Mother Mary Joseph Aubert.

Maori mission work in the 1860s was crippled by the Maori Wars, though Pompallier might have used his Franciscans more effectively in the peaceful north. His impartial and humanitarian spirit was esteemed both by Grey and by the Kingites, despite the fact that his efforts to avert bloodshed brought him insults from some Pakehas. When Hauhauism became dominant from 1865, the missionaries south of Auckland had to be withdrawn.

The burdens of the depression years, 1866-67, made a visit to Europe more urgent in 1868. His failure this time to gain support was disheartening even to one whose apostolic dreams had so often been cut down by realities. After reporting to the Pope, he resigned his charge. He had served both races in New Zealand for over 30 years. In 1869 he was made titular Archbishop of Amasia. He died at Puteaux, near Paris, on 21 December 1871.

Pompallier had the gift of treating native peoples with respect, cordiality, and esteem. His chief fault was that he tried to do too much with so little, and too quickly. His forte was extension, not consolidation, but he was the leader the times needed. Lack of resources and consequent debts had harassed him from the beginning but he deserves little blame for that and much praise for all that he contrived to do. Founder of all the Catholic missions in the south-west Pacific, he was one of the great Christian missionaries of the nineteenth century.

by Maurice Warwick Mulcahy, S.M., D.D., Archivist to the Marist Order in New Zealand, Wellington.

• The Life and Times of Bishop Pompallier, Keys, Lilian (1957) (with list of Pompallier's published works)
• Fishers of Men (ed.), McKeefry, P. T. B. (1938)
• The Church in New Zealand, Vol. I, Wilson, J. J. (1910)
• New Zealand 1769–1840, Wright, H. M. (1959)
• The Voyage of the Astrolabe – 1840, Wright, Olive (1955).

(c. 1804–51).

Te Ati Awa chief.

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

Pomare, who was a chief of the Ngati Matunga branch of Te Ati Awa, came from northern Taranaki. He married Taiwhiti, the daughter of Te Rauparaha. In 1825–26 he came with Makore Ngatata to Wellington with the Nihoputa heke. When Te Rauparaha allowed them to settle by Wellington Harbour, Pomare built his kainga on the bank of the Kumototo Stream at a point nearly opposite where the Supreme Court, Wellington, now stands.

After the fall of Pukerangiora pa (1831), they were joined by other sections of the tribe and several disputes arose over land. In 1834 these matters came to a head and Pomare's brother Tewai was killed at Haowhenua. Shortly afterwards, when his wife's brothers desecrated Tewai's grave, Pomare sent her and two of her children back to Te Rauparaha. He then married Hera-Wai-taoro, a daughter of Te Manu-tohe-roa. In the same year he made over his rights at Port Nicholson to Te Puni and Wharepouri and prepared to move his people to the Chatham Islands. In November 1835 his warriors seized the schooner Rodney and forced the crew to transport the entire heke to the Chathams. There they found the inhabitants a peaceful people who were easily overcome and enslaved.

After Patuwenga's death in 1836, Pomare became the senior chief of the Ngati Matunga. He soon started a war with his Ngati Tama allies who had accompanied him in 1835. In June 1841, when this was concluded, Pomare sold a large tract of land to R. D. Hanson (later, Chief Justice of South Australia) and returned to Wellington. There his conduct towards the Ngati Tama and Morioris was censured by his kinsman, Wiremu Kingi Te Rangitake.

In April 1844 Pomare was baptised by Hadfield and took the names Wiremu Piti (William Pitt). He died at the Chatham Islands on 29 January 1851 and was succeeded in his chieftainship by his nephew, Wiremu Naera Pomare, the father of Sir Maui Pomare.

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

• Journal of the Polynesian Society, Vol. 1 (1892), “The Occupation of the Chatham Islands”, Shand, A.

(c. 1775–1850).

Ngapuhi chief.

A new biography of Pomare II appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Whetoi was born about 1775, the son of Haki, the sister of Pomare-nui, and of Te Tauroto, a Ngapuhi chief who was killed at the Waima engagement in 1810. In 1826, after his uncle's death, Whetoi succeeded him as chief of the Uri Karaka hapu of the Ngapuhi. He assumed the name Pomare so that his people might be reminded of their duty to avenge his uncle's death. A very hot-headed man, who achieved an unenviable reputation for the craftiness of his dealings, Pomare was constantly quarrelling with neighbouring Ngapuhi hapus and with other tribes. In March 1828 he took part in a skirmish at Waima, where he had gone to avenge the death of Whareumu. He was involved in the “Girls' War” in 1830 and was obliged to cede the site of Kororareka to Te Uruoa as utu for killing the chief Hengi. On 26 June 1832 he and Kawiti led an expedition to the Waikato, where they attempted, unsuccessfully, to avenge Rangituki's death. In 1832 Pomare sold Captain J. R. Clendon some land for a trading post at Okiato. In the following year he seized a whaleboat because the captain refused to pay him for some spars. This incident was a cause célèbre at the time, but Pomare accepted fair compensation when HMS Alligator arrived in March 1834. He also levied a toll upon ships calling at Otuihu and Wahapu until the establishment of British sovereignty put an end to this lucrative source of revenue. On 2 June 1837 Pomare killed the chief Titore in the course of a tribal brawl at Kororareka. Two months later Captain Hobson, who visited the port in HMS Rattlesnake, observed that both chiefs were “violent fellows” and added that the missionaries were working hard to resolve the dispute.

Pomare signed the Treaty of Waitangi on 6 February 1840 and was the third chief to do so. During the early years of British sovereignty his general demeanour caused the Government much disquiet, while his propensity towards violence rendered his loyalty suspect. A few years later, when the Maoris were becoming dissatisfied with the effects of the transfer of sovereignty, the American Consul at the Bay of Islands persuaded him that the British flag flying at Kororareka was the cause of all their troubles. About the time of Heke's incident the authorities intercepted some letters, supposedly written by Pomare to Te Wherowhero, urging him to make a common cause against the Europeans. Governor FitzRoy decided to arrest the former on suspicion of treason. On 30 April 1845 Colonel Despard and Colonel Hulme went to Otuihu and – notwithstanding that the Maoris were flying a flag of truce – effected the arrest, after which the troops razed the pa. Pomare was taken to Paihia, but was released soon afterwards when Nene convinced the Governor that his action had been precipitate. For his part, Pomare demanded that the Governor should give him, as compensation for his arrest, the ship upon which he had been carried. He brought a large war party to serve in the subsequent campaign against Heke, but withdrew before the battle at Ohaeawai.

After Heke's war Pomare seemed to become more reconciled to the Government and, in 1849, he welcomed the Bay of Islands Magistrate's intervention to settle a dispute between the Ngapuhi and Whangaroa tribes. During the last year of his life he ceased to oppose the missionaries in his district and embraced Christianity. Pomare died towards the end of July 1850.

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

• Marsden Letters and Journals, Elder, J. R. (ed.) (1932)
• The Early Journals of Henry Williams, 1826–40, Rogers, L. M. (ed.) (1961)
• New Zealand's First War, Buick, T. L. (1926)
• Southern Cross, 20 Aug 1850.

Also known as Pomarenui (c. 1760–1826).

Ngapuhi chief.

A new biography of Pomare I appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Very little is known of Whetoi's early life, except that he had reached the peak of his fame as a fighting chief by the time Kendall arrived at the Bay of Islands. He was the son of Tuwhanga (died 1814) and of Puhi and was the senior chief of the Uri Karaka hapu of the Ngapuhi tribe. His pa was Otuihu, situated at the junction of the Waikare and Kawakawa Rivers opposite the present wharf at Opua. Whetoi was impressed with the success of the Tahitian Royal House in civilising their people and assumed their name of Pomare. After his death he became known as Pomare-nui – the great Pomare – to distinguish him from his nephew and successor, Pomare II. Early in 1815 Marsden visited Otuihu and, shortly afterwards, Pomare accompanied him to Sydney. Here he made considerably less use of his opportunities than had Hongi and Ruatara and, when Marsden returned to New Zealand in September 1819, he complained because he had not been sent a blacksmith. This omission, however, did not prevent him from attending Marsden's Divine Service.

In 1820 Pomare joined Te Wera's expedition to the East Cape district. They failed to take the impregnable Te Whetu Matarau pa at Hicks Bay, but captured Okau-whare-toa pa with much slaughter. During this engagement Pomare captured Te Rangi-i-paia, a Ngati Porou woman of the highest rank, whom he later took to the Bay of Islands as his wife. He then renewed his siege of Te Whetu Matarau for several months, sustaining his force on the defenders' cultivations. At the end of this he lifted the siege and withdrew his men round Matakaoa head. When the defenders emerged to recover what they could of their food supply, he returned suddenly by night and captured the pa. Pomare returned to the Bay of Islands in April 1821 and professed a desire to extend the benefits of Christianity to his erstwhile foes. Later in the same year he accompanied Hongi on his compaign against the Ngati Maru. He assisted at the capture of Mauinaima pa, but refused to be a party to Hongi's treacherous peace at Te Totara. He withdrew his force and, instead, attacked a pa on Tuhua (Mayor) Island in the Bay of Plenty. In 1822 Pomare led a strong expedition against Ngati Awa and Ngati Pukeko settlements in the Bay of Plenty in order to avenge reverses suffered there by Te Morenga's taua in 1818. The party landed at Whakatane and, after a sharp engagement in which the Ngapuhi guns brought terror to their foes, they pursued Ngati Awa remnants to Ruatoki, Nga Mahanga, and Tunanui. On this occasion a Ngapuhi advance party reached the Te Wharau range in Tuhoe territory. They captured many prisoners and returned to the Bay of Islands laden with spoils, including a number of preserved heads destined for the European market.

In the following year Pomare took part in Hongi's celebrated expedition against the Arawas, of Rotorua. After the fall of Mokoia Island the two chiefs disagreed on their future plans and Pomare withdrew his force to Waihi, where he joined Te Wera, who was on a new expedition to the East Cape. They attacked the Whakatohea and Te Whanau-a-Apanui tribes, but were defeated in a skirmish at Te Kaha. A few days later Pomare won a victory at Whangaparaoa and then took his party to Te Kawakawa (near East Cape), where he endeavoured to make peace with the Ngati Porou. They, however, distrusted his overtures and attacked, but were repulsed by the Ngapuhi firearms. Pomare then joined Te Wera in his successful descent on Waiapu and Wairoa. By this time the Ngati Porou were ready to make peace and Pomare returned to Te Kawakawa where hostilities – which had originated in the Venus episode of 1806 – were formally ended. Towards the close of 1823 Pomare again landed at Whakatane with a large force. On this expedition he was aided by Te Morenga, Moka, and Te Hihi, each of whom had his own reason for invading the region. Pomare's objective was to punish Te Mai-taranui (also known as Te Rangiaho), a prominent chief of the Ngati Awa and Tuhoe tribes, who lived at Ruatahuna in the heart of the Urewera country. He led his force up the Whakatane River and, after a difficult journey, reached Ruatahuna, only to find that the Tuhoe had discreetly retired to Maungapohatu. At this point, probably because he appreciated the difficulty of undertaking a campaign in the Urewera, Pomare made peace with Te Mai-taranui and returned to the Bay of Islands.

In 1824 Te Mai-taranui visited the Bay of Islands to solicit Ngapuhi aid against the Ngati Kahungunu. As a result Pomare led a large Ngapuhi force by sea to Hawke's Bay, where he captured Titirangi, a Ngati Kahungunu pa situated a few miles from Frasertown (Wairoa). After this the party is said to have traversed the Ahuriri plains. The Ngati Kahungunu expedition marked the last of Pomare's successful campaigns.

Notwithstanding the peace concluded after Matakitaki, Pomare still wished to undertake a campaign against the Waikatos. He made several attempts to rally support for the scheme, but Hongi and the other Ngapuhi chiefs opposed them. Te Wherowhero, who was at Taupo at the time, wished to meet him to talk him out of his obsession, but Te Kanawa feared treachery and advised against it. Early in 1826 Pomare led 220 warriors from the Piako River overland to Horotiu and up the Waipa River. The Waikatos were ready for them at Te Rore and surprised the Ngapuhi while they were still in their canoes, Pomare and all but a handful of his men being killed. After the battle Pomare's body was cooked and eaten by the victors. There is a tradition among the Tainui tribes that, when Pomare was opened, they found corn – at that time unknown in the district – in his stomach. As this had been eaten only a short time before his death, it took root and flourished. Thus was corn introduced into the Waikato.

In his day Pomare was one of the most successful of the Ngapuhi war chiefs. After his death, in May 1826, the chieftainship passed to his nephew, while Rewa (or Maanu) and Moka became the war leaders. In April or May 1828 Te Rangituki led a taua to avenge Pomare's death, but was destroyed by the Ngati Paoa and Ngati Tipa at Motutapu Island in the Hauraki Gulf.

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

• Marsden Letters and Journals, Elder, J. R. (ed.) (1932)
• The Early Journals of Henry Williams, 1826–40, Rogers, L. M. (ed.) (1961)
• Tuhoe, Best, E. (1925)
• Tainui, Kelly, L. G. (1949).

(1876–1930).

Maori leader, Minister of Health and Internal Affairs.

Maui Pomare was descended from Hoturoa, captain of the Tainui canoe. His grandmother was Te Rua-o-te Rangi, one of the few women to sign the Treaty of Waitangi. She married John Nicol, a sailor-trader, and Pomare's mother was born of this union. As his uncle, Wiremu Pita Pomare (Pomare means “night of coughing”) died without heirs, the chieftainship passed to Wiremu Naera. Naera's son Maui was born on 13 January 1876 at Pahou Pa, 20 miles north of New Plymouth. Years later Te Whiti, the prophet of Parihaka, prophesied that “a son who is of Waitara will pick up the crumbs of Waitara and piece them together”. Maui Pomare helped fulfil this prophecy.

In 1887 Pomare attended Christchurch Boys' High School and, later, Te Aute College, where he transferred after his mother's death in 1889. There he joined the Te Aute Students' Association where he, with others, was stimulated by a study of J. H. Pope's Te Ora-o-te Maori. Pomare and his student friends often spent their vacations travelling and speaking at pas on religion, education, and health. They felt that the Maori could best rehabilitate himself through hard work on the land by living away from their unhealthy kaingas (villages). Influenced by a sailor-cook at Te Aute, Pomare joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church and left to attend their College (Battle Creek) in Michigan, U.S.A., where he graduated M.D. in 1899. He returned to New Zealand intending to establish a college on the American pattern but, instead, accepted appointment as Health Officer for one of the 19 districts created by the Maori Councils Act 1900. Through his efforts the Tohunga Suppression Act 1907 was passed, Maori Councils were formed, and sanitation inspectors were appointed to Maori villages. In addition he advocated and, in large measure, achieved the registration of all Maori births and deaths.

In Taranaki he helped to form the Maori Union, which taught their tribes sobriety and work. Elected to the House of Representatives for Western Maori in 1911, Pomare became a member of Massey's Ministry without portfolio on 10 July 1912. He became Minister of the Cook Islands in 1916, Minister of Health in 1923, and Minister of Internal Affairs in 1928. As a member of Parliament he used his influence to secure the setting up of two Royal Commissions on Native Affairs. In 1912 the first of these gave Taranaki Maoris the opportunity to bid in open Court for their ancestral lands and, as a result, the West Coast Settlement Reserves Amendment Act of 1913 was passed. The second Royal Commission, that of 18 October 1926, agreed that £5,000 should be paid annually to compensate the tribes who had suffered injustice when Teira sold the Waitara Block. During the years of the First World War, Pomare was chairman of the Maori Regimental Committee and, by his insistence, had conscription widened to include Maoris. Through his efforts, the Maori Battalion retained its identity following heavy losses suffered at Gallipoli. As Minister of Health he was instrumental in reorganising New Zealand's mental hospitals and in segregating lepers to Quail Island in Lyttelton Harbour. As Minister of the Cook Islands he brought the education system there into closer conformity with that of New Zealand and did the same for the legal system. His Cook Islands Act 1916 conformed with the general body of New Zealand law. Pomare also fought monopoly interests in the Cook Islands fruit trade and had the whole industry brought under Government control. As Minister of Internal Affairs, Pomare played a leading part in organising the Maori celebrations in connection with the visit of the Duke and Duchess of York in 1927.

After the parliamentary elections, in 1922, the defeated Ratana candidates petitioned to have Pomare's election declared invalid. The petition was heard in Tauranga on 23 March 1923, and Pomare retained his seat. From 1928 his health failed and, while bedridden, he completed in association with James Cowan the second volume of The Legends of the Maori.

In January 1903 Pomare married Miria Woodbine, daughter of James Woodbine Johnson, of Gisborne, by whom he had two sons and one daughter. For his services, Pomare received the C.M.G. in 1920, and in 1922 was created K.B.E. He died on 27 June 1930 while on a visit to Los Angeles, and his ashes, which were returned to New Zealand, now rest in Manukorihi Pa high above the Waitara River.

Enthusiastic and tireless in his mission among the Maori people, Sir Maui Pomare encouraged sanitation in native settlements. Through his efforts he brought new hope and life to many, and he lived to see the Maori people increase in numbers and in social status. In Parliament he was noted for his powers of concentration, for his ready wit, and for his forthright oratory, while his work for the lepers and the inmates of mental hospitals showed the breadth of his humanitarianism.

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

• Man of Two Worlds – Sir Maui Pomare, Cody, J. F.
• (1953);Takitimu, Mitchell, J. H. (1944)
• The Daily Democrat (Springfield, Ohio), 30 Aug 1897.

The Polynesian Society (Incorporated, 1926) was founded on 8 January 1892 at a meeting in Wellington called by Stephenson Percy Smith and chaired by Colonel W. E. Gudgeon. The initial membership was 112, since grown to 1,300 (1965), and the quarterly Journal of the Polynesian Society was decided upon. Since then the Journal has appeared regularly and is the principal vehicle of the society's programme of gathering and publishing information on the indigenous races of Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia. The full series of the Journal is today regarded as the richest repository of the lore of the peoples of Oceania. The first editors were S. Percy Smith and Edward Tregear, but after 1901 the former conducted the Journal till 1922. He was followed by W. H. Skinner, Elsdon Best, Johannes C. Andersen, H. D. Skinner, C. R. H. Taylor, G. S. Roydhouse, W. R. Geddes, W. C. Groves, and B. G. Biggs (present editor).

Presidents have included Bishops W. L. and H. W. Williams, Edward Tregear, S. Percy Smith, Elsdon Best, W. H. Skinner, Sir Apirana T. Ngata, H. D. Skinner, and J. M. McEwen (now in office). Except for the period 1901–25, when the headquarters were at New Plymouth, the society has been based on Wellington.

The society has assembled a considerable library of printed books, periodicals, and manuscripts. In 1960 this was deposited with the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, where it is accessible to students.

In addition to the quarterly Journal, the society has published a long series of memoirs, notable among which are: History and Traditions of the Taranaki Coast (1910), The Lore of the Whare Wananga (1913–15), both by S. Percy Smith; The Moriori People of the Chatham Islands (1911), by A. Shand; The Maori (1924) and Tuhoe (1925) both by Elsdon Best; Maori Music (1934), by J. C. Andersen, and A Pacific Bibliography (1951), by C. R. H. Taylor. A reprint series and a Maori monograph series are also published. Maori Marriage, by B. G. Biggs, and Maori Warfare, by A. P. Vayda, both 1960, have appeared under this latter heading.

Other notable books have been published elsewhere after being serialised in the Journal, such as Hawaiki and Maori Wars of the Nineteenth Century (1904), both by S. Percy Smith. The standard Maori dictionary has, since 1917, been published under the auspices of the Polynesian Society, edited in 1917 by Bishop H. W. Williams and, in 1957, by J. M. McEwen.

The society has received financial assistance from the Maori Purposes Fund Board since 1924, and itself, upon occasion, gives assistance to other causes, publications, or persons.

by Clyde Romer Hughes Taylor, M.A., DIP.JOURN., formerly Chief Librarian, Turnbull Library, Wellington.

Competition between New Zealand and other countries has been restricted by the difficulty and expense of transporting ponies. Only three teams (bringing their own ponies) have ever come to New Zealand. In 1894, officers from HMS Curacoa visited Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch. A team from Victoria played nine matches here in 1901; and in 1958 a New South Wales team played seven matches. Two teams, one from Queensland and one from California, toured New Zealand in 1960 and played on local ponies. In 1925 the Australasian Gold Cup was inaugurated in Sydney for competition between Australian States, New Zealand being classed as a State. New Zealand teams have competed seven times and have won five times. Representative teams have also travelled to Mexico and England.

The first polo tournament in New Zealand was held at Auckland in 1890, only 19 years after the game had been introduced to England. Auckland played Christchurch; Christchurch won. At the same tournament Christchurch beat a visiting Royal Navy team, thereby winning a trophy presented by Captain Savile, who was Aide-de-camp to the Governor-General. The success of this tournament led the clubs to form a national organisation, the New Zealand Polo Association, which was set up in 1891 with six member clubs. Today the association comprises 15 clubs: Auckland, Cambridge, Christchurch, Feilding, Hawke's Bay, Kihikihi, Morrinsville, Poverty Bay, Rangitikei, Taupiri, Tukituki, Waimai, Wairarapa, Wanstead, and Whareama.

New Zealand's polo season lasts from December till the end of March. In the latter month the Savile Cup, Junior Cup, and Handicap Cup tournaments are held.