He Tautohe i roto i te Ngahere
I Hānuere 1942, ka tauāki a Parāire Paikea (ko ia te Minita whakahaere mō ngā mahi Māori i wā o te pakanga) nā ngā mahi a tāna Māori War Effort Organisation i whakakitea ai e te iwi Māori te nui o tō rātou whakaaro aroha ki te motu, me te kaha o ā rātou mahi hei tautoko i ngā mahi pakanga.
I mea mai hoki a Paikea: “regarding many of their outstanding claims and grievances, the Maori people, generally speaking, have decided to allow these to remain in abeyance till more propitious times. In any case, at the present time their thoughts are directed to one thing only, and that is the war effort.[1]
I waenganui o ngā iwi Māori me te karauna ēnei nawe i kōrerotia e Paikea. Kāore e kore, he āhua pono āna kupu, engari, kei roto i ētahi o ā mātou tuhinga ki tēnei paetukutuku, e kitea ana e tū tonu ana a Ngāi Māori ki te ātete i ngā mahi a te kāwanatanga, kei hinga ā rātou take i te tūreititanga. Hei tauira te Petihana o Ōrākei. Kei te titiro tēnei kōrero ki tētahi raruraru kē e pā ana ki te rāngai tūmataiti, i tū ai ngā Māori ki te parahau i tō rātou mana whenua, ahakoa te katinga mai i ngā mahi tautoko i te pakanga.
Ko Ellis & Burnand tētahi o ngā kamupene nunui o te motu e kani ana, e hoko ana i ngā papa rākau. I te Rohe Pōtae taua kamupene, e whakamahi ana i te rerewē[2] tūmataiti kia tikina ngā rākau i ngā whenua Māori ki Tīroa, ki te tonga-mā-uru o Te Kuiti. He poraka a Rangitoto Tuhua 36 me Maraeroa C i mahia e taua kamupene. Nō Ngāti Rereahu o Ngāti Maniapoto a Maraeroa C; 13,727 eka te nui. I te tau 1912 i tīmata ai ngā mahi kani rākau a te kamupene ki taua poraka, ā, ka haere tonu taua mahi i tua atu i te pakanga.[3] Ka utua he tiringa (moni utu) ki te hapū mō ia 100-putu, mō ia 100-putu o ngā rākau, ā, ka whakaritea anō aua utu i ngā tau 1930, 1937 me 1949.[4]
E ai ki te rīpoata a T.J. Hearn’s mō te WAI 898 (Te Rohe Pōtae), he iti iho ngā tiringa e utua ana e Ellis & Burnand i ngā utu mō ngā rākau o ngā whenua karauna, ahakoa kua waiho mā te kāwanatanga hei āta tītiro ki ngā tiringa kei tinihangatia ngā whānau nō rātou te whenua. Ahakoa tēnei tikanga, ka tarai te kamupene ki te whakaiti i ngā tiringa i te tau 1932, engari, ka mūhore tā rātou tono. I te tau 1935, i te tirotirohanga i ngā mahi a te kamupene, ka kitea, “the company was short measuring (by four inches in every 12 foot length), that the company had left too much small millable timber on the block, and that too much was being deducted for defects.” Tae atu ki 1949, kua hāwhe, iti iho rānei, ngā tiringa rākau mō ēnei poraka Māori i ngā moni e utua ana ki te kāwanatanga mō āna ake rākau.[5]
Nā ngā petihana ki te pāremata ka kitea te nanu o te iwi; hei tauira nā te petihana a Tāroa Te Ringitanga mā o te tau 1924 i inoi ai rātou kia tukua ō rātou whenua ki waho i tō rātou kirimana ko Ellis & Burnand, ā, i te tau i muri, nā tō rātou aukatinga i te rerewē o te kamupene ki ngā poro rākau me te oneone.[6] Ka puta anō he raruraru i te tau 1936, ka whakahē te tangata whenua ki ngā tiringa kīhai i utua, me te “bad felling of the timber, covering up good trees by the debris, and leaving the stumps too long.”
I whakatau tētahi o te hapū ki te whakamahi i tōna ake tinana hei aukati i te rerewē i waenganui i te ngahere. E ai ki te King Country Chronicle:
From Tuesday to Saturday Mrs. Mahuri, who is about 50 years of age, had no food or drink and for the latter part of the week as she remained sitting in the centre of the line, successfully resisting all persuasions to shift her and free the line for the operations of the locomotive.[7]
I Tīhema 1941, ka whakamahia anō taua tikanga. Ka tautokona anō ia e ōna whanaunga nāna he kēti i whakatū, ā, ka noho anō a Mrs Mahuri (ko Te Tau Waretini hoki tōna ingoa) ki runga i te ara tereina.[8]
I te tīmatanga o te pakanga, ka pāhitia e te kāwanatanga he ture hou, ko te Emergency Regulations Act te ingoa, kia taea ngā rekureihana te hanga mō ngā tini take, tae atu ki “the efficient prosecution of any war in which His Majesty may be engaged, [ā,] for maintaining supplies and services essential to the life of the community.”[9] He rauemi whakahirahira ngā papa rākau nō ngā mahi pakanga,[10] ā, i Māehe 1942 ka pānuitia e te kāwanatanga “The Tiroa Native Land Emergency Regulations” i whaimana ai ngā kaiwhakawā o te Kōti Whenua Māori ki te tirotiro, ki te whakawā i ngā raruraru i waenganui i te hapū nōna te whenua me Ellis & Burnand, kia taea ngā rākau te tua, te tō hoki, “without fear of recurrent disputes.”[11]
I te marama i whai iho mai i tū ai te Tiroa Emergency Commission, i whakakākoretia ai ētahi o ngā kerēme Māori, engari, nā te whakamahi a te kamupene i tōna rerewē ki te kawe i ngā tāngata me ngā taonga kē, ka whiwhi te hapū ki ētahi moni anō, ā, ka meatia kia kaua te kamupene e kani utu-kore i ngā rākau rerewē.[12] Ki te whakaaro o te Tari Māori, ko te whakawākanga nei “will have the effect of obviating further causes of friction between the Native owners of the Tiroa and Maraeroa C Blocks and the company which is working the extensive areas of timber of these lands”.[13]
Nā tēnei kōrero, ka kite tatou, i tū ngā porotehe a ngā iwi Māori i te taha o ngā mahi tautoko i te pakanga. Ehara i te mea ko te hāpai i ngā kaupapa pakanga te mahi anake o ngā hapori Māori puta noa te pakanga.
I ētahi wā, kua maumahara tonu te hapū ki ēnei momo porotehe a ō rātou tūpuna, tae noa ki ēnei rā. I te tau 2014 ka tuku a Tūtahanga Eric Rākena Tēpu i tāna kōrero tūturu ki te Taraipiunara o Waitangi. Ka kōrero ia mō ōna kuia e noho ana ki runga i te ara tereina, ka kī atu ia: “Pouaka Wehi [became] the next speaker for our family and he was pictured with my nannies sitting on the railway tracks. My koroua Pouaka Wehi, he was my great great grandfather. My great grandfather was my nanny’s father. You will see them [in photographs] sitting on the railway tracks.”[14]
Image: He kaimahi ngahere, e tata ana ki Mangapēhi, Waikato. E kitea ana ētahi tāngata e tū ana ki runga i te poro rākau e noho ana ki runga i te rerewē, ā, tētahi tangata i te taha o te tarakihana Caterpillar. E tinga anō, he kaimahi rātou nō Ellis & Burnand. He mea whakaahua i te tau 1935; kāore e mōhiotia ana nā wai i tango. Ref: PAColl-8550-11. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22335597
[1] Evening Star, 30 Hānuere 1943, wh.3. I kī mai hoki a Paikea “there were 10,825 men in essential industries, 4,844 Territorials for service within and beyond New Zealand, 2,049 enlisted Territorials for service in New Zealand only, and 9,875 men in the Home Guard. A total of 6,759 were engaged in the defence forces, making a grand total of 27,584”, ā, ko te mahi a te MWEO “had been widened to embrace the control and direction of all Maori man and woman power in essential industries in co-operation with the district man power officers, and the increased production of potatoes, kumeras, maize, and green vegetables had been organised and operated not only as individual projects, but as tribal projects.”
[2] He “ara taramu” tēnei momo rerewē, arā, he āhua whāiti ngā rino.
[3] T.J. Hearn, Māori Economic Development in Te Rohe Pōtae Inquiry District c.1885 to c.2006 (Pēpuere, 2014). Commissioned by the Waitangi Tribunal for Te Rohe Pōtae Inquiry (Wai 898), wh. 259, 263; The Native Purposes Act, 1941. Report and Recommendation on Petition of Pouaka Wehi and Others, Concerning the Maraeroa C Block, AJHR, 1942, G-06C, wh.1.
[4] Hearn, wh. 259-263. Tirohia hoki, Philip Cleaver, Maori and the Forestry, Mining, Fishing and Tourism Industries of the Rohe Potae Inquiry District, 1880-1000, Report commissioned for the Waitangi Tribunal (WAI 898), Pēpuere 2011, wh.14-187.
[5] Hearn, wh. 259-263; ko ngā kupu ake kei wh.262.
[6] Petihana a Taroa te Ringitanga mā, Native Affairs Committee (Reports of the): Nga Ripoata a te Komiti mo nga mea Maori (Mr. Williams, Chairman), AJHR, 1924, i-02, wh.33; Cleaver, wh.124.
[7] King Country Chronicle, 17 Māehe 1936, wh.5.
[8] Auckland Star, 4 Tīhema 1941, p.6; New Zealand Herald, 6 Tīhema 1941, wh.10.
[9] Emergency Regulations Act 1939, section 3 (1), New Zealand Acts as Enabled, New Zealand Legal Institution Institute, http://www.nzlii.org/nz/legis/hist_act/era19393gv1939n8317/
[10] Cleaver, wh.131.
[11] The Tiroa Native Land Emergency Regulations 1942, i roto i te New Zealand Gazette Nama 30, 19 Māehe 1942, p.722. E kitea ana tēnei kei te Maraeroa and Tiroa Judgement File, Papers Regarding the Native Land Emergency regulations, BBOP A1295 10126 Box 1, Archives New Zealand, Auckland. Tata ki te 500 ngā rekureihana i whakaritea i te wā pakanga. I Mei 1945 i whakakāhoretia ai ngā mea 133, engari, ka tū tonu ngā rekureihana mō Tīroa. Tirohia: Emergency Regulations Tables Showing I. Regulations Revoked Since V.E. Day and II. Regulations Now in Force, AJHR, 1945, H-46, wh.8.
[12] Maraeroa and Tiroa Judgement File. Tirohia hoki, Waikato Times, 20 August 1942, wh.2.
[13] Native Department. Annual Report of the Under-Secretary for the Year Ended 31st March, 1943, AJHR, 1943, G-09, wh.3.
[14] Evidence of Tūtahanga Eric Rākena before the Waitangi Tribunal, Wai-898, In the Te Rohe Pōtae District Inquiry (Wai 898) Hearing, Week 11, Wharauroa Marae, Taumarunui. (31 Māehe-4 Āperira, 2014), wh. 1461. [Me kore ake a Anaru Eketone hei tuku mai i ngā pukapuka e pā ana ki te WAI 898.]