Whārangi 1: Haurongo
Te Rangi Paetahi, Mete Kīngi
?–1883
Nō Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi; he rangatira, he kaitōrangapū, he āteha
I tuhia tēnei haurongo e Steven Oliver, ā, i tāngia tuatahitia ki Ngā Tāngata Taumata Rau i te 1990. He mea whakamāori nā Ngā Tangata Taumata Rau.
Nō te matawaka o Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi a Mete Kīngi Te Rangi Paetahi. Ko Ngā Poutama, ko Ngāti Tūmango ōna hapū. He pānga ōna ki te iwi o Ngāti Apa. Ko ia te tama a te rangatira o Whanganui, a Paetahi. Ko Utaora tōna whaea. E whakaarohia ana ko 1824 te tau i whawhai ai a Paetahi ki a Ngāti Toa i Kapiti i te pakanga o Waiorua. Nō te matenga o Hōri Kīngi Te Ānaua i te tau 1868, ka riro i a Mete Kīngi te tūranga ariki nui o ngā iwi o te taiwhakawaho o Whanganui awa. Ko Rōra Awheuru, tamāhine a Takarangiatua, te wahine a Mete Kīngi. Tokowhā ā rāua tama; ko Hoani, ko Hēnare Takarangi, ko Pehira me Hōhipere. Ko Mere (Mary) tā rāua tamāhine.
I te tekau tau mai i 1850, ka haerea e Mete Kīngi ētehi o ngā rohe o Te Ika-a-Māui. Ko te kaupapa he whakamātau ki te whakamutu i ngā riri kōpūtahi i whānau mai i ngā take hoko whenua. I waona e ia a Te Arawa i Rotorua, ā, i te tau 1854 ka pērātia anō e ia a Taranaki. I te tīmatanga o ngā riri kaiākiri a Ngāti Kahungunu i 1857, ka haere rāua ko Te Mākarini (Donald McLean), te hēkeretari mō ngā take Māori, ki Heretaunga. Ko tā rāua, he whakakīkī i a Te Hāpuku kia hoki ki ōna whenua tupu. Haere ai a Mete Kīngi ki ngā hui a te īngitanga. I Noema o te tau 1856, arā ia i te hui nui a te Kīngitanga i Pūkawa. I reira ka mautohengia e ia te kaupapa whakatū Kīngi. I te hui i Kohimaramara (Kohimarama) i 1860, ka kī taurangitia e ia ka noho pono tōna iwi ki te Kuini. Nō te tau 1858, ka whakatūngia a Mete Kīngi hei āteha i raro i ngā ture a te Ture Whakarite Kōti Māori (Native Circuit Courts Act) o 1858. Ko 1865 te tau i tū ai ia hei āteha mō te Kōti Whenua Māori.
I te tekau tau mai i 1860, ka mautohetia e Mete Kīngi te Pai Mārire, ā, i mātāhō ia i ngā waitaua a te kāwanatanga. I te awhinga o te Pai Mārire e ngā Māori o te taiwhakaroto o Whanganui i 1864, ka whakamātau rātou ki te whakaeke i te tāone o Whanganui mā te awa mai, i raro i a Mātene Te Rangitauira o Taumarunui. Ko Mete Kīngi tētehi o te taua kūpapa o Whanganui nāna i ārai. I te pakanga i te moutere o Moutoa, i te awa o Whanganui, i te 14 o Mei, ko ia te ngārahu o te whakaihinga i hinga ai te pahī Hauhau. I Pēpuere o 1865, ko Mete Kīngi anō tētehi i te patunga o ngā Hauhau i te pā o Ōhoutahi i raro mai o Pipiriki.
I te marama o Hānuere 1865, ka rangatū atu a Rūtene Tianara Duncan Cameron i Whanganui ki te tango mai i te poraka o Waitōtara i ngā Hauhau. I hipa atu a Cameron i te pā o Weraroa i te awa o Waitōtara, nā te mea he kaha rawa, ā, he iti nō te huanga ki āna kaupapa whawhai. Ko Mete Kīngi tētahi o ngā rangatira o Whanganui i tono ki a Kāwana Hōri Kerei (George Grey) kia kōrerorero tahi me te iwi o Weraroa, kia hauraro. Ko te whakamāherehere a Mete Kīngi ki a Hōri Kerei i te kore tutukinga o tēnei take, kia kaua te pā e tukia atu mā mua. Ko tāna kē hei tukinga ko Āreiahi kāinga i tua o te pā. I pāhorotia tēnei wāhi e te ope a Mete Kīngi me ētehi atu, ā, ka haukotia ngā oranga mō Weraroa. Whakarērea tonutia atu a Weraroa e ngā kaiwawao. Koia nei te wā i paingia ai a Te Tianara (The General) hei īngoa karanga mō Mete Kīngi.
I te noho manawa popore ngā hōia a Mete Kīngi kei whakaekea e ngā Hauhau te taiwhakawaho o te awa o Whanganui. Nō muri i te pāhorotanga o Weraroa i hoki ai a Mete Kīngi ki te kāinga. Ko ia tētehi o te waitaua i rere mā runga i te tima Gundagai ki te whakahirihiri i a Pipiriki i te 25 o Hūrae 1865. Ēngari, nō te taenga atu kua riro kē ngā Hauhau. Kātahi a Mete Kīngi ka tahuri ki te tahutahu i te kāinga mahue o Ōhinemutu e pātata atu rā ki Pātea. Nō tōna hokinga mai ki Whanganui ka mea ia ki a Kerei, mā rātou ko āna hōia e ngaki te mate o Te Wākana (C. S. Völkner). Nō te marama o Maehe 1865 te mihinare nei i patua ai i Ōpōtiki. Nō Hepetema ka tae te waitaua a Mete Kīngi ki Ōpōtiki. E ono ngā pā i hinga ki a rātou, ā, e 400 ngā Hauhau i hauraro ki te taua a te kāwanatanga. Nō te hokinga atu ki Whanganui, ka kuhu atu a ia ki te waitaua a Meiha Tianara Trevor Chute ki te tonga o Taranaki i ngā marama o Hānuere–Pēpuere o 1866. I taua haerenga, ko Mete Kīngi te kaingārahu o te ope Māori ā mutu noa.
Nō Mei o 1868 ka tū ko ia te Mema Māori tuatahi mō Te Tai Hauāuru ki te Whare Pāremata atu ki Tīhema o 1870. He poto te wā e aumārie ana te noho, ka tīmata anō te whawhai ki Te Tai Hauāuru i te marama o Hune 1868. He murunga nō ngā whenua i mau rākau anō ai a Ngāti Ruanui o Taranaki. Ka kī a Mete Kīngi ki te Pāremata, kore rawa a ia e whakaae mā te kōrero ā whare ki a Tītokowaru, te kaiārahi o Ngāti Ruanui, tēnei take e whakaoti. I whakapae anō hoki a ia e kūare ana ngā Mema Pāremata ki te kaha o ngā mahi takakino a te taua a Tītokowaru i te rohe o Whanganui. I te matenga o te taua a te kāwanatanga i Te Ngutu-o-te-manu, me Moturoa, i ngā marama o Hepetema—Noema 1868, anea ana te taiao e tāwhawhe ana i Whanganui. O te katoa o te matua e wawao ana i te tāone o Whanganui, e 500 ngā Māori. Tekau mā rima māero atu ki te raki o Whanganui ko Taurangaika, te pā o Tītokowaru. Nā tōna whakareretanga i Taurangaika i te tīmatanga o 1869 i mutu ai te whawhai ki te rohe o Whanganui. I Hūrae o te tau 1869 ka tautokona e Mete Kīngi te mōtini i te Pāremata kia whakatūria he kōmihana mō ngā take Māori. Nāna anō i tūwhana kia tāia ki te reo Māori ngā ture e hāngai ana ki te iwi Māori.
I Hānuere o 1869, ka haere tahi ngā amokura tokotoru nei a Mete Kīngi, a Tāmihana Te Rauparaha, a Wī Tako Ngātata i te taha o Kāwana G. F. Bowen ki Ōtautahi (Christchurch). I te tekau tau mai i 1870, ka tahuri a ia ki te mahi hipi. Nō te tau 1877 ka hoatu e Rēnata Kawepō o Ahuriri (Napier) e 2,000 ngā hipi māna. I uru atu a ia ki ngā huihui ā-iwi e pā ana ki ngā take whenua me te whakauru atu he kanohi Māori i ngā mahi tōrangapū. I 1876, ka tae a Mete Kīngi ki tētehi hui nui i karangahia ki Tūhua, i te awa o Ōhura, he pekanga kei te taiwhakaroto o Whanganui awa. E tāpetupetu ana a Waikato ki a Te Mamaku o Ngāti Hāua-te-rangi mō tōna hiahia ki te tuku whenua hei hoko. Me kī, kāore he raruraru o te hoko whenua ki a Mete Kīngi; ko te mea nui kē kia rahi te wāhi e toe mai hei oranga mō te iwi. Nāna i whakatū ngā hui ki Te Aomārama, ki Pūtiki, ki Taumarunui. I te mutunga o te hui i tōna whare nui, i a Te Pakū-o-te-rangi, i Āperira 1878, ka haria e rāua ko Te Keepa Te Rangihiwinui he take ki te kāwanatanga. Ko tōna kaupapa kia whakaturengia he komiti Māori hei āta tirotiro i ngā whakaaetanga ā-pukapuka o ngā whenua kua hokona. Nō Maehe o 1881 rāua ko Kāwana Paipai o Ngāti Ruakā, i haere ai ki Waitangi i Pēwhairangi (Bay of Islands), ki te kōrerorero mō te Tiriti.
He āwhina ki te whakaehu i te iwi a Te Whiti-o-Rongomai III i Parihaka te mahi whakamutunga a Mete Kīngi mā te kāwanatanga i 1881. I inoi atu a ia ki tōna iwi o Whanganui kia whai mai i a ia ki te kāinga. Nō te parahakotanga i tāna inoi, ka whakatahi a ia ka kī, kua mārō kē ō rātou ngākau. Kātahi ka wehewehea mai e Utiku Pōtaka, he rangatira taiohi i a Mete Kīngi, ngā wāhine me ngā tamariki o Whanganui, ā, ka whakahokia e ia ki te hau kāinga.
He maha ngā whakaahua o Mete Kīngi i tangohia i Ōtautahi i te tau 1869. Kei ngā whare pukapuka e tohu ana. Ko tōna āhua ia he tangata rahi, mau pāhau, ā, kīhai ōna moko. Nō te 22 o Hepetema 1883 a ia i mate ai ki Pūtiki, ā, ko te whakaaro, 70 ōna tau. Nō te 1 o Oketopa ka whakahaerea tōna tangihanga i raro i te ritenga mō te hōia. E 200 ngā tūao i taipara waipū mōna. E hia mano nei i tōna tangihanga. Kei te urupā i te mīhana o Pūtiki a ia e tāpuke ana.