Chronology for 1835-1899
The colonial redistribution of welfare: Dismantling hapū ora
This period opens with a politically and socio-economically robust iwi Māori population of around 80,000 people.[i] go to footnote Whenua and whakapapa form the basis of hapū and whānau wellbeing. W.H. Oliver argues that the first instrument of social policy in New Zealand was the system set up by Hobson in 1840 for the purchase and resale to settlers of Māori land.[ii] go to footnote Pākehā welfare was dependent on the continued dispossession of Māori land.[iii]go to footnote
The New Zealand Wars (1845–1872) either directly or indirectly impacted all iwi Māori throughout New Zealand.[iv] go to footnote Related legislative measures enabled the Crown to alienate Māori land and taonga across the motu prior to and beyond the next century via confiscation, land tenure reforms, local legislative measures and contested land purchases.
Iwi Māori assertions of rangatiratanga and resistance to the alienation of lands occurred across the motu, either physically, through the courts, via direct petitioning to the government or through the simple occupation of lands. Such measures led to some government concessions, such as the Sims Commission and South Island Landless Natives Act 1906,[v] go to footnote but after 1872 resistance also sometimes led to the government’s use of force in the later 19th century and well into the 20th century. (eg, Parihaka in 1881, Waima in 1898, Takaparawhāu in 1978).[vi] go to footnote
By the end of the 19th century Māori were a minority of the national. In 1896 the Māori population hit an all-time low of 42,650, compared to a Pākehā population of just over 700,000. Although the Māori population was recovering, their communities were reeling from land alienation, decline of resources, indebtedness, diseases and Māori communities survived on subsistence economies, with a growing dependence on paid work.
Māori were either excluded or faced barriers to accessing welfare support introduced during this period.
Chronology events
Displaying 41 - 50 of 270 events.
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Tohunga Suppression Act
Prohibited traditional Māori healing practices.[i]
Date: 1907 Period: 1900-1937 -
Native Land Act
This Act prohibited customary whāngai practices. Instead, formal adoptions needed to be legally registered through the Native Land Court.[i]
Date: 1909 Period: 1900-1937 -
Pensions Act
This Act consolidated statutes relating to old age, widows, and military pensions. The Act did not apply to Māori who were receiving money appropriated for Native purposes under the Civil List Act 1908. Application required an applicant’s age to be corrobo…
Date: 1913 Period: 1900-1937 -
Māori contingent leave for war
Te Hokowhitu a Tū: Altogether 2,227 men served overseas. Three hundred and thirty-six Māori men (15 percent) who served in the war, on Gallipoli Peninsula or the Western Front, were killed. Of those who returned, nearly 40 percent had been wounded.[i]
Date: 1915 Period: 1900-1937 -
Māori Soldiers Fund
Lady Liverpool with Miria Woodbine Pomare formed a Māori Soldiers Fund which drew upon the resources of 28 Māori women’s committees across the country.[i]
Date: 1915 Period: 1900-1937 -
Military Services Act
The Military Services Act 1916 introduced conscription. Initially conscription applied only to Pākehā, but in June 1917 it was extended to Māori. Nearly 30,000 conscripts had joined the New Zealand Expeditionary Force by the end of the war. New forms of pe…
Date: 1916 Period: 1900-1937 -
Eastern Māori Patriotic Association established
Set up by Āpirana Ngata to raise funds for Māori returned servicemen, because of the doubt that the Government would act fairly in providing land for rehabilitation.[i]
Date: 1917 Period: 1900-1937 -
Influenza epidemic
The official figures released at the time grossly underestimated Māori suffering; their death rate was seven times higher than for Pākehā. It is now thought that more than 2,100 Māori died in the epidemic.[i]
Date: 1918 Period: 1900-1937 -
The Epidemic Allowance (Epidemic Pension)
The Epidemic Allowance (Epidemic Pension) was introduced as an immediate response to the sudden deaths during the influenza epidemic of 1918. The Allowance provided for widows whose husbands had died in the epidemic and for the support of children of widow…
Date: 1918 Period: 1900-1937 -
Housing Act
Introduced due to a housing shortage that had become acute with the return of soldiers, a scarcity of labour and a rise in the cost of building materials. The Scheme operated for only three years during which time 800 houses were built.[i]
Date: 1919 Period: 1900-1937
Footnotes
- [i] go to main content ‘The first Māori census was attempted in 1857–58’. Atholl Anderson, Judith Binney, Aroha Harris, Tangata Whenua: An Illustrated History, Bridget Williams Books, Wellington, 2014, p. 246. Earlier censuses were taken during the 1840s, however these were particular to regions and settlements and from there estimates were made by missionaries and colonists as to what the national population level might have been. Salmond and other prominent authors are sceptical of these figures and believe the numbers were greater. A census of Māori was attempted in 1867 but warfare prevented its completion. Tangata Whenua, Appendix One, p. 490.
- [ii] go to main content Cited in Margaret Tennant, Past Judgement: Social Policy in New Zealand History, co-edited with Bronwyn Dalley, 2004, p. 17.; ‘The April report: report of the Royal Commission on Social Policy’, Volume 1: New Zealand Today, New Zealand Royal Commission on Social Policy, Wellington, 1988, pp. 4–5.
- [iii] go to main content Tennant, 2004, p. 41.
- [iv] go to main content For more detailed information see the following link: https://teara.govt.nz/en/new-zealand-wars
- [v] go to main content For more information see: Atholl Anderson, Judith Binney, Aroha Harris, Tangata Whenua: An Illustrated History, Bridget Williams Books, Wellington, 2014, pp. 256–301, and https://teara.govt.nz/en/new-zealand-wars
- [vi] go to main content Tangata Whenua, pp.322-3.