When was the maori party formed

A paper by Dr Wi Repa, dealing with the formation and development of the Te Aute Association, was read at a meeting held in Morninyton recently. The story of the development of the Te Aute Association is highly interesting. At first it was intended to be nothing more than a "club," ''with select admissions td its membership, but it has; by a slow process of evolution, become an organisation whose avowed object is the ultimate and highest good of the race; and its one condition of membership is the desire to secure the.

There are many measures of importance in operation amongst the- Maoris at the present time, due directly to the Te Aute Association. Though the association has not so far received national recognition, we hope, at the coming congress, to secure for it not only Maori adoption but Dominion respect. Signs of Life. The Te Aute Association did not come suddenly into being like a Martinique earthquake or a Kingston catastrophe A3 I have already indicated, its birth dates from the year It was the outcome of certain isolated efforts in previous times to reform the Maori race ; or, to bring the matter to the bedrock, it was the fruit of the constant preaching on social reform by Mr Thornton, headmaster of the aohool.

I can remember two such addresses were given annually, at the end of each school term. The seed sown during those year? During that summer an epidemic of influenza, had broken out on the East Coast of the North Island, and, with the aid of the tohunga, had swept off many victims. This outbreak of disease called for immediate action ; and the college lads, barely in their toens, proposed to supply the remedy.

Under the leadership of Apirana Xpata, who was then an undergraduate at Canterbury College, an association was formed bearing the 1 sonorous title of "A Society for the.

I Amelioration of the Condition of the j Maoris. The doleful view taken of the whole Maori question ' by this society is thus tersely put by Mr Ngata: "The whole of Maori society is ; rotten. Christianity is lukewarm, if not dead; the Maoris are drunken, idle cots; they love not oleanliness; they do not encourage their children to go to school, j but on the other hand throw obstacles in.

That report claimed that the seed of the word had been sown, and the preaching had been listened to with as much attention and toleration as ever youthful eettere-forth of new doctrines could expect. Although the year of the reading of that report is now some distance behind, yet I remember distinctly that no mention of active or passive opposition on the part of the leading thinkers of the Coast was made; neither wa« it definitely stated that the apostles of the new gospel received any rebuff for any offensive matter they had said.

The fact was our party of that day did not conceive any other course than that of scattering broadcast, by means of lectures, the truths it was bound to support ; and lam not quite sure that we did not maintain this course from that day forth, even unto the great movement of I even think that our elders had been unjustly accused of eubjeoting ue to indignities, for they never did anything of the kind.

On the contrary, they welcomed vm, and saw in ua the fulfilment of whatever vague hopes they might have had for the future of their children. I do not reoolleot any one of our party having 1 committed violence, either in speech or action, against our elders. Is it possible to govern any people by a law which does not recognise their estate in land?

As an interim measure, the Native Commission Act was passed. However, with the defeat of the Weld government in , the commission was never constituted. Nevertheless, further legislative attempts to grapple with the specific problems of the franchise soon followed. However, the Bill was never introduced. This office ruled that. The right to vote, the Imperial Crown Law Office confirmed, depended on an individual owning land held in individual Crown title. Clearly, some alternative was required.

The MRA provided for the division of the North Island into three electorates: one north of Auckland; the other two bisected by a line running down the centre of the island. The whole of the South Island, Stewart Island, and adjacent islands were included in the fourth seat. Voting rights in New Zealand, between and , were not just restricted to adult males, but, with some exceptions see below , to those males who either owned, leased, or rented property see above, p.

Indeed, the provisions of the MRA received support from the legislators primarily on the basis that they were temporary measures to remain in force for only five years. Had the franchise been granted to all male individuals on the basis that they were taxpayers, it would also have strengthened the growing call for women taxpayers to be included in the franchise as well — a call not heeded until , over a quarter of a century later.

Finally, the creation of a special franchise was not unprecedented. A special franchise — one not based on property — already existed for the Pensioner Settlements electorate in Auckland, and the Goldfields electorates in the South Island. This Bill by itself, however, would upset the numerical distribution of seats between the North and South Islands.

He thought, seeing that the representation which was proposed to be given was quite of an exceptional character, and was not the same as the ordinary franchise, that the interests and security of the Southern Island might be attained if they pressed the exceptional character still further, and excluded from those new seats all except persons of the Native race.

In the context of the provincial, not party, politics, of the day, the South Island representatives were unhappy at the prospect of three additional European members from the North Island. Even here, maintaining the parity in representation was not the most significant reason given for supporting the Bill by all members. There was both a sense of moral obligation — seen in the legislative attempts to fulfil the moral responsibilities to a disenfranchised people who were paying substantial taxes — as well as a sense of fulfilling the constitutional obligations of the Treaty of Waitangi.

This can be seen in the legislative history outlined above. By over polling places had been established, including some in the remote King Country and Urewera. If this proved unsatisfactory, a poll could be demanded, in which case a written vote could be cast if necessary by way of an interpreter. However, the subsequent lack of secrecy in voting by a show of hands, when no poll was demanded, attracted some criticism.

The Legislative Amendment Act of abolished voting by a show of hands in favour of voting by declaration to a Returning Officer. The impact of the secret ballot was felt immediately. Concerns about illiteracy and language were belied by just 2. This referendum was repeated at each subsequent general election. In a Representation Commission was established. Following each five-yearly population census, the Commission reviewed the size and boundaries of the European electorates to ensure that they were within set population tolerances.

By comparison, the European electorates in were required to be within five percent of an electoral mean of 26, Thus, the largest variations from this mean were Riccarton 24, and New Plymouth 27, It was formed in in a split from the Labour Party following the passing of the controversial Foreshore and Seabed Act. The party supported the fifth National Government from , holding a number of cabinet portfolios, until its departure from parliament at the election.

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