‘Ngā Tāngata a Paikea’: Te Whakaoreore i te iwi Māori

Kei roto i tā Aroha Harris tuhinga mō Tāmaki Paenga Hira hei whakamahara i te Rā ANZAC 2020, ka hurihuria e te kaituhi hītori nei te kōrero roa mō te Whakaoreore i te iwi Māori mō ngā mahi mō te wā pakanga, rangimārie hoki.  I kī mai ia, i tua atu i ngā taumaha o te pakanga, ‘many Māori communities also turned their attention internally to the welfare of themselves, their homes and their marae, in the process laying the foundations for community work that would follow in the second half of the century.’[1]

Ko te MWEO (Māori War Effort Organisation) tētahi o ngā hinonga whakahirahira i whakahaeretia e te iwi Māori hei mea i ngā raruraru o te pakanga, ā, he tuatinitini ngā komiti i whakatūria hei kimi i ngā tāngata Māori mō te tauā whawhai, me ngā mahi whakahirahira o te motu.

E whakaarohia ana e ētahi, he hininga ā-kāwanantanga noa iho te MWEO, engari, mehmea ka āta tirohia ngā mahi a ngā komiti i puta mai, ka kitea nā ngā marae, nā ngā hapū, nā ngā iwi ā rātou ake kaupapa i whakaara.  I te tautoko rātou i ngā mahi pakanga a te kāwanatanga, engari, i te tiaki hoki rātou i te oranga me ngā tikanga o ā rātou ake hapori.

Ko Paraire Paikea (1894-1943) te kaiwhakaū o te MWEO; ko ia te mema pāremata o te Taitokerau, ā, he minita Rātana hoki.[2] He hira rawa atu a Paikea i roto i te kōrero nei mō te whakaoreore i te iwi Māori, engari, nā tā tātou tino aro atu ki ngā whawhai a ngā hōia ki tāwāhi, kua āhua wareware pea āna mahi e pā ana ki te pakanga, me ngā mahi a te hunga i noho tonu ki Aotearoa nei.

I te 11 Mei 1942, ka tuku reta a Paikea ki te Pirimia, ki a Peter Fraser, i marohitia ai he māpere mō ‘the better organisation of the Māori war effort’.[3]. Ko tāna, i te hāpai kē te iwi Māori i ngā mahi pakanga, arā, ko ngā hōia i tāwāhi, i Aotearoa nei hoki, te mahi kai, te mahi ahumahi, tae atu ki ngā mahi tautoko i te motu.

E ai ki a Paikea, hei ‘awaken the people generally to a full realisation of the gravity of the position, and to give them a lead as to the avenues to which their activities could be more efficently directed’, arā, ka hiahiatia kia pai ake te whakahaere i ngā mahi.

Ko tāna kaupapa i marohi ai ko te MWEO, arā, kia kopoua he komiti ā-iwi i roto i ngā takiwā pōti e whā, ā, kia whakatūria he āpiha Māori kimi-tāngata i raro i te Chief Liaison Officer (he āpiha whai-mana ia nō te tauā whawhai). Ka mahi tahi te āpiha nei me ngā komiti ā-iwi.  I runga ake he komiti pāremata o ngā mema Māori katoa o ngā whare e rua kia kaha whakatūria he komiti ā-iwi i roto i ō rātou takiwā.  Ā, ka mahi tahi aua mema rātou ko te rūnanga ā-pakanga o te kāwanatanga.

I te 3 Hune 1942 te kaupapa nei i whakaaetia ai.[4]  I wehea ngā takiwā ā-poti e whā kia rua tekau rohe e ārahina ana e ā rātou ake āpiha kimi-tangata.  Nō te Tauā whawhai, nō ngā Ope ā-kāinga [Home Guards] ēnei tāngata.  Tokowaru i roto o te takiwā ki te Raki, tokorima ki te Rāwhiti, ā, tokoono ki te Hauāuru.  Ahakoa ko te wāhi nui rawa atu a Te Waipounamu, kotahi anake tōna āpiha kimi-tangata.[5]

Kei raro rātou i a Lt-Col. Hemphill, i te Chief Liaison Officer, ā, i mahi tahi rāua ko te Minita mō te MWEO. Ko Paikea te minita tae atu ki tōna matenga i Āperira, 1943. I tukuna te tūranga e Hemphill i Hune 1944, ā, ko te kaitiriwā ko James Paumea Ferris (Ngāti Porou), ko ia te āpiha kimi-tāngata o Tūranganui-a-Kiwa o mua.

E rua ngā whāinga a Paikea, kia whakahaeretia paitia ngā mahi pakanga a te iwi Māori kā tahi; kā rua, kia hāpaingia te rangatiratanga mā te ārahi ā-hapū, ā-iwi.  Ā, ka whai hua tāna kaupapa.  I tāna reta o te 11 Mei, kua meatia e Paikea ka rima ka ono pea ngā komiti ā-iwi.  Engari, i Hānuere 1943, e 315 ngā komiti he mea whakatū puta noa te motu: e 99 i te Taitokerau; 115 i te taha hauāuru, e 82 i te taha rāwhiti; ā, 19 i te Wai Pounamu.[6]

Nā ēnei tini komiti ā-iwi, ka whakataua kia whakatūria he komiti ki-runga kia pai ake te whakahaere i ngā mahi o ia takiwā.[7]  Tua atu i ngā komiti ā-iwi e 315, i te mutunga o Hānuere 1943, e 41 ngā komiti ki-runga kua whakatūria.  I Māehe 1945, e 398 ngā komiti ā-iwi, e 51 ngā komiti ki-runga.[8]

Nō te whakatūranga o te MWEO i Hune 1944, i taiepatia tōna roa ki te ono marama. Engari, i roto i aua marama e ono, 10,825 ngā tāngata kua whakaurua e te MWEO ki roto i ngā mahi whakahirahira; e 4844 ngā tāne ki roto i te tauā whawhai, e 2040 ki roto i te Ope ā-motu [Territorial Forces], ā, e 9875 hoki ki roto i ngā Ope ā-kainga.[9] E 27,584 ngā tāngata Māori katoa kua uru ki roto i ngā momo mahi pakanga mai i te 95,000 o te iwi katoa.  Nā konei, ka ora tonu te MWEO.

Tua atu i te kimi tangata mō te whawhai me te ahumahi, ka whakatairanga hoki te MWEO i te ahuwhenua; i mahi tahi rātou ko ngā āpiha o te Manpower me te National Service Department ki te whakahaere i ngā raruraru i puta mai, pērā me ngā kaimahi matangaro.  I tohe te MWEO ki te tautoko i ngā mahi ahuwhenua o ngā Primary Production Councils, he mea whakatū e te Tari Ahuwhenua, engari, kāore aua kaunihera i āta aro ki a rātou.

I āwhina, i tautoko hoki te MWEO i ngā hōia kua hoki mai, kia riro ngā penihana me ngā ratonga whakanohonoho o te kāwanatanga.  I te taha o ngā āpiha Māori toko i te ora, ka tautoko hoki te MWEO i ngā tāngata kua neke atu ki ngā tāone mahi ai.

Ahakoa he hinonga ā-kāwanatanga, ka whakakitea e te MWEO te āheitanga o te mana ā-iwi me te ārahitanga Māori i tēnei wā mōrearea, me te tere o ā rātou mahi.  Ko te whakaaro o Eruera Tirikātene, o te mema o Te Waipounamu i te tau 1945, ‘Whether it was reinforcements for overseas, [picking] agar seaweed, kumeras, potatoes, men for the freezing industry, shearers, girls for the factory or market gardening the Maori people through the organisation responded immediately.’[10]

He mea pōuri: ahakoa ngā hua me te angitū, ahakoa te hiahia o ngā komiti ā-iwi me ngā mema Māori, ka poto te oranga o te MWEO i muri i te pakanga.  Ka whakamutua, ka ngaro kē āna mahi ki roto i te Māori Social and Economic Advancement Act 1945, he mea whakamana i te 1 Āperira 1946.

Me kore ake a Paikea hei whakaoreore i te iwi Māori.  I mihia āna mahi e Eruera Tirakātene ki ngā āpiha kimi-tangata me ngā āpiha takawaenga Māori i tō rātou hui i Hūrae 1845: ‘You are all Paikea’s men. Paikea had something in view, something greater than what was in operation at the time that he died. He had a vision for the future, and I feel that we can become not only a great asset to the Government and the Nation as a whole, but also to ourselves, irrespective of what Government might be in power’.[11]

He nui rawa atu tā te iwi Māori tautoko i ngā mahi pakanga.  E 95,000 pea te tokomaha, (engari, e 58% i raro i te rua tekau mā tahi tau i te tau 1945) ā, ka uru te nuinga o ngā pakeke ki roto i ngā mahi pakanga.  Ka tūao noa ngā mahi a ngā komiti ā-iwi me ngā komiti ki-runga, ko te Chief Liasion Officer rātou ko ngā āpiha kimi-tangata anake i utua.  Ahakoa ka kūmea ngā mahi a te MWEO ki roto i te tari hou (Māori Affairs), nā tā Paikea kaupapa nei i waere te ara mō ngā kaiārahi Māori hou i muri i te pakanga.

Whakaahua: "Maoris' War Effort: Recruiting Conference in Auckland", Auckland Weekly News. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections AWNS-19420916-19-10.

[1]Aroha Harris, ‘Māori mobilisation: Wartime, Peacetime, Covid-19 time’: https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/features/anzac-day-2020/maori-mobilisation

[2] Angela Ballara. 'Paikea, Paraire Karaka', Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, he mea whakaputa i te tau 1998. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4p1/paikea-paraire-karaka (he mea titiro i te 10 Mei 2020).

[3] P. K. Paikea ki te Pirimia, 11 Mei 1942, Constitution and Administration – General – Maori war effort, 1942-1946, EA1 81/1/11 wāhanga 1 (ANZW).

[4] Te Rūnanga ā-pakanga ki te Pirimia, 3 Hune 1942, Constitution and Administration – General – Maori war effort, 1942-1946, EA1 81/1/11 wāhanga 1 (ANZW)

[5] Lt-Col Hemphill ki a Paikea, 11 Hūrae 1942, EA1 81/1/11 wāhanga 1.

[6] Paikea ki te Minita o te Kaupapa Waonga, 19 Hānuere 1943, EA1 81/1/11 wāhanga 1.

[7] Paikea ki te Minita o te Kaupapa Waonga, 19 Hānuere 1943, EA1 81/1/11 wāhanga 1.

[8] Eruera Tirakatene, Memo, 22 Māehe 1945, EA1 81/1/11 wāhanga 1.

[9] Paikea ki te Minita o te Kaupapa Waonga, 19 January 1943, EA1 81/1/11 wāhanga 1.

[10] Tirakatene, Memo, 22 Māehe 1945, EA1 81/1/11 wāhanga 1.

11] Kauhau ki te Hui o ngā Āpiha Kimi-tangata Māori me ngā Āpiha Takawaenga, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, 20-22 Hune 1945, he mea rīpoata i te 24 Hūrae 1945, EA1 81/1/11 wāhanga 1.