Nā te raupatu me ngā hoko whenua ka tahuri te Māori ki ngā mahi ā-ringa ihu oneone nei. I te wehenga tuatahi o te rautau 1900 neke atu i te haurua o ngā kaimahi Māori i whai mahi ā-ringa ihu oneone nei. I te tau 1943 ka mea te kairangahau take tikanga tangata nei a Ernest Beaglehole, ‘there is a tendency to rank most Maori in a group equivalent in status to that of the lowest-class White group' (tērā te pōhēhē me whakaōrite te tūranga o te iwi Māori ki tō ngā tāngata tūtūā rawa o te ao Pākehā)1. Ka huri hoki tēnei pōhēhē i te huringa hoki o te iwi Māori i te mutunga o te rautau 1900.
Ngā kaimahi pūkenga
Nō te whiwhinga a te Māori i ngā tohu mātauranga i te tīmatanga o te rautau 1900 ka tīmata ngā taukumekume i waenganui i ngā rangatira tuku iho me ērā i whai tūnga ki roto i te ao Pākehā. He mea whakamāmā hoki tēnei tūāhua inā nui atu ngā uri rangatira i whai i ngā tohu mātauranga nei. Ko te whakatūnga hoki tērā o te Rōpū Rangatahi Māori ko tā rātou hoki kia aro kē ki ngā mahi hei tohu rangatira, kaua ki tōna kāwai whakaheke anake.
Ngā rangatira me ngā ariki
Nō te tau 1858 ka tīmata mai te Kīngitanga, ā, heke noa mai ki tēnei te mano tau hōu. Ko te arikitanga o Te Heuheu ki roto o Tuwharetoa hoki tēnā i heke mai ki te mano tau hou nei. Kei ngā rōpū ā-iwi maha, ko ngā rangatira o ngā taratī me ngā kamupene ā-iwi hoki he uri rangatira tonu. Arā rā tā Apirana Mahuika mō ōna hapū tonu, ko ngā whānau Weka, Green me nga Manuel hoki me ētahi atu whānau rangatira i eke tonu ki ngā mahi rangatira mō te iwi tae noa ki te mutunga o te rautau 1900.
E ai ki a Hirini Mead, ‘flattened out and there is one class called Māori' (kua kore haere ngā wehenga tāngata Māori i ēnei rā, ā, kua kotahi noa ko te Māori anake)2 – nā reira he rangatira katoa ināianei. E rangona ana tēnei i ngā mihi o te whaikōrero, arā ‘Rau rangatira mā’.
Te aranga o te whai rawa a te nuinga o te iwi Māori
Nō te mutunga o rautau 1900 ko te aranga o te whai rawa a te nuinga o te iwi Māori. Whai muri i te whakatūnga o te Rōpū Whakamana i te Tiriti o Waitangi, ka whakapau kaha ngā rōia me ngā kairangahau Māori ki ngā kerēme tiriti. I te whai hua mai i ngā whakataunga kerēme kua whakatūtūhia ngā kamupene me ngā taratī Maōri i whakahaeretia anō e te Māori whai pūkenga. Ka nui atu hoki te kitea o te kanohi Māori ki ngā tini mahi a te kāwanatanga.
Ka ngaro atu ki roto i tēnei tū āhuatanga ngā wehewehenga tūturu o te ao Māori. I taua wā anō e whakatauhia haerehia ana ngā kerēme titiri nunui, ka pā kino hoki te hokotanga atu o ngā kamupene kāwanatanga nui ki ngā kaimahi Māori, tokomaha tonu i riro atu kē ō rātou tūranga mahi.
I te whare wananga o Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa ka tū te rōpū rangahau o Te Hoe Nuku Roa, nana nei i whakawehewehe tonu ngā wehenga Māori nā te ine i ngā tikanga whakaaro, te reo, me ētahi āhuatanga hoki o te oranga moni o te hapori.
