MAORI OBJECTION TO THE WAR

Heritage New Zealand Kaihautu Te Kenehi Teira says Maori had mixed views about World War I. Some supported the war effort and rushed to join up. Others opposed the war as they did not want to fight for the British Crown, which was seen to have done much harm to Maori communities in the 19th century.

“Many Maori from the Waikato region in particular were opposed to the call to fight for the British King. The Waikato Wars of the 1860s, in which their land had been confiscated, had left them questioning why they should now be expected to fight for the British.”

Kingitanga leader Te Puea Herangi stated that her grandfather, King Tawhiao, had forbidden Waikato to take up arms again when he made peace with the Crown in 1881. She maintained that Waikato had its own king and didn’t need to fight for the British king.

At Waahi pa in November 1916, Defence Minister James Allen made a direct appeal to Waikato Maori, saying: “If you fail now, you and your tribes can never rest in honour in the days to come”. When this appeal failed, Allen supported the extension of military conscription to Maori in June 1917 but decided to apply it to the Waikato Maniapoto district only.

Te Puea offered refuge at Te Paina Pa (Mangatawhiri) for men who opposed conscription and a crowd greeted police when they arrived there on 13 July 1917. The police waded into the crowd and began arresting men they believed to be objectors, including King Te Rata’s 16-year-old brother, Te Rauangaanga. Each of the seven men selected had to be carried out of the meeting house.

During the seizure, police stepped over King Te Rata’s personal flag, which had been protectively laid before his brother. The incident caused great offence to those gathered, but Te Puea calmed the crowd before blessing those seized. She told the police to let the Government know she was afraid of no law or anything else “excepting the God of my ancestors”.

The prisoners were taken to the army training camp at Narrow Neck, Auckland. Many were subjected, like other objectors, to severe military punishments to break their resolve and, when this failed, some were sentenced to two years’ hard labour at Mount Eden prison.

Archibald Baxter, Lawrence Kirwin, Henry Patton and Mark Briggs were subjected to repeated sentences of Field Punishment No. 1, part of which included what was known as “the crucifixion”. This involved being tied to a post in the open, with their hands bound tightly behind their backs and their knees and feet bound. They were held in this position for up to four hours a day in all weathers.

Baxter and Briggs also spent time in the trenches but remained defiant to the end, and both were eventually discharged on medical grounds and returned to New Zealand. Men like these were subjected to the most extreme measures, but all of those imprisoned faced a tough, carefully regulated plan of punishment designed to break their resolve. Historian David Grant says that conditions in prisons around New Zealand for objectors were harsh, but no harsher than those for ordinary prisoners at that time. “Difficult” prisoners like Baxter were subjected to solitary confinement and work in the quarries that was back-breaking.

The Wellington region contains some of the most significant sites attached to conscientious objection, although most no longer exist. Before their transportation overseas, Baxter and Briggs spent various times at several locations in Wellington, including Trentham Military Camp, Alexandra Barracks (near Mount Cook Prison), Terrace Jail and Mount Cook Prison, where the two met for the first time. During the seven weeks Briggs spent in prison he also met future