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 61 - 70 of 270 events.
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Public Works Act
The 1928 Act continued most of the principles and policies developed in previous years, including many of the inheritances of the 1882 Act regarding Māori land. However, land could be taken under the Public Works Act 1928 for State housing purposes, provid…
Date: 1928 Period: 1900-1937 -
First Māori Women’s Institute formed
The first Maori Women's Institute, Te Awapuni, was formed at Kohupātiki in Hawkes Bay.
Date: 1929 Period: 1900-1937 -
Native Land Amendment and Native and Claims Adjustment Acts 1929
Māori Land development schemes begin. They provide a lifeline to whānau Māori.
Date: 1929 Period: 1900-1937 -
The Division of Māori Hygiene disbanded
Responsibility for Māori health passed to the Department of Public Health’s medical officers.[i]
Date: 1930 Period: 1900-1937 -
The Great Depression
Unemployment grew to 12%, forming a new group demanding government assistance. The government set up an Unemployment Board and legislated to raise an annual levy of 30 shillings from every adult working male to fund the Board’s activities which became an i…
Date: 1930 Period: 1900-1937 -
Unemployment Act
Established government responsibility for the support of the unemployed, but relief works and payments proved inadequate.[i] The Act established an Unemployment Board, charged with making arrangements with employers for the employment of the unemployed, pr…
Date: 1930 Period: 1900-1937 -
Native Land Act
Removed recognition of adoptions by Māori custom for things such as succession to native land where there was no will (unless the adoption had been registered pre-31 March 1910 and was still in place). The Act also impacted land development and title.[i]
Date: 1931 Period: 1900-1937 -
Health Camps
The first permanent Children’s Health Camp was built at Ōtaki.[i]
Date: 1932 Period: 1900-1937 -
Māori Purposes Fund Act
During 1934-35, this Act constituted the Māori Purposes Fund Board, charged with promoting Māori health, education, social and economic wellbeing. It amalgamated three former Boards: The Māori Ethnological Research Board (1923); The Māori Purposes Fund Con…
Date: 1934 Period: 1900-1937 -
Native Housing Act
Initiated the beginning of nationwide surveys.[i]
Date: 1935 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.