NZHistory, New Zealand history online - maori health

South Island influenza death rates

These figures are taken from Geoffrey Rice, Black November: the 1918 influenza pandemic, University of Canterbury Press, 2005. The population figures are those of the 1916 Census. Death rate is per 1,000 of population. Maori populations for counties are inclusive of interior boroughs. Only registered Maori deaths are listed, and these are not available for some districts.

Region:

Marlborough
Nelson
West Coast
North Canterbury
Christchurch
Banks Peninsula and Chatham Islands
South Canterbury
Otago
Dunedin
Southland

Marlborough

Place	Deaths	Population	Death rate
Sounds County and Picton	8	2,322	3.4
Marlborough	11	6,915	1.5
Blenheim	27	3,822	7.0
Awatere	2	1,542	1.2
Kaikoura	9	1,906	4.7
TOTAL	57	16,507	3.4

Nelson

Place	Deaths	Population	Death rate
Waimea County	11	9,334	1.1
Motueka	4	1,475	2.7
Nelson	29	8,774	3.3
Takaka	3	1,858	1.6
Collingwood	–	1,253
Murchison	6	1,251	4.7
TOTAL	53	23,945	2.2

West Coast

Place	Deaths	Population	Death rate
Buller County	10	5,071	1.9
Denniston	13	702	18.5
Westport	10	4,067	2.4
Inangahua and Reefton	12	4,130	2.9
Grey County	17	7,519	2.2
Greymouth	38	4,863	7.8
Westland	14	4,578	3.0
Hokitika	20	2,091	9.5
Kumara	3	623	4.8
TOTAL	137	33,644	4.0
Maori deaths	1	81

North Canterbury

Place	Deaths	Population	Death rate
Amuri County	1	1,836	3.8
Cheviot County	9	1,224	1.3
Waipara County	11	2,058	5.3
Kowai County	7	1,444	4.8
Amberley	8	470	17.0
Ashley County	–	728	–
Rangiora County	10	2,747	3.6
Kaiapoi	11	1,560	10.8
Rangiora	9	1,808	4.9
Eyre County	9	1,806	4.9
Oxford County	10	989	10.1
Tawera County	1	847	1.1
Malvern County	6	2,757	2.1
Paparua County (excluding Christchurch)	6	2,566	2.3
Halswell County	2	1,785	1.2
Springs County	4	1,785	2.2
Ellesmere County	6	3,441	1.7
Selwyn County	7	1,423	4.9
TOTAL	129	31,117	4.1
Maori deaths	1	145

Christchurch

Place	Deaths	Population	Death rate
City East	31	5,109	6.1
City Northwest	26	4,364	6.4
City Southwest	29	3,999	7.3
Riccarton	11	2,890	3.8
New Brighton	13	2,310	5.6
Sumner	5	2,287	2.1
Lyttelton	21	3,766	5.6
Addington	10	3,045	3.3
Sydenhem	43	8,418	5.1
Waltham	7	2,218	3.2
Beckenham	5	909	5.5
Spreydon East	10	1,565	6.4
Spreydon West	4	1,645	2.4
Somerfield	6	1,079	5.5
Opawa	4	890	4.5
St Martins	1	278	3.5
Woolston	9	3,990	2.2
Linwood South	14	5,195	2.7
Linwood North	25	4,758	5.3
Avonside and Bromley	1	1,933	0.5
Richmond	16	2,696	5.9
St Albans East	22	4,775	4.6
St Albans West	33	5,665	5.8
Papanui	11	1,866	5.8
Strowan and Merivale	11	2,567	4.2
Belfast and Styx	8	1,839	4.3
Marshland	7	1,454	4.8
Fendalton	13	5,078	2.5
Sockburn and Islington	8	2,397	3.3
Heathcote	7	2,738	2.5
Harewood	3	1,050	2.8
Soldiers who died in camp	19
‘Christchurch’, no address	25
TOTAL	458	92,773	4.9

Banks Peninsula and Chatham Islands

	*European*			*Maori*
Place	Deaths	Population	Death rate	Deaths	Population	Death rate
Mt Herbert County	2	405	4.9	1	120	16.6
Akaroa County	13	1,982	6.5	–	33	–
Akaroa	4	540	7.4
Chatham Islands County	1	219	4.5	5	258	19.3
Wairewa County	2	1,036	1.9	2	75	26.6
TOTAL	22	4,182	5.2	8	486	16.4

South Canterbury

Place	Deaths	Population	Death rate
Ashburton County	46	13,136	3.5
Ashburton	25	3,109	8.0
Geraldine County	11	5,194	2.1
Geraldine	5	869	5.7
Temuka	21	2,173	9.6
Levels County	11	4,378	2.5
Pleasant Point	4	722	5.5
Timaru	38	12,238	3.1
Mackenzie County	6	2,868	2.0
Waimate County	13	6,984	1.8
Waimate	17	1,867	9.1
TOTAL	197	53,538	3.6
Maori deaths	10	232	43.1

Otago

Place	Deaths	Population	Death rate
Waitaki County	22	9,694	2.2
Hampden	4	364	10.9
Oamaru	46	5,140	8.9
Waihemo County	6	1,446	4.1
Palmerston	5	752	6.6
Waikouaiti County	6	2,841	2.1
Waikouaiti	4	611	6.5
Seacliff*	21	1,253	16.7
Taieri County	10	5,662	1.7
Mosgiel	11	1,719	6.3
Bruce County	3	4,763	0.6
Kaitangata	4	1,681	2.3
Milton	5	1,317	3.7
Clutha County	6	6,194	0.9
Balclutha	10	1,409	7.0
Owaka district	15	707	21.2
Tuapeka County	4	4,818	0.8
Lawrence	4	837	4.7
Roxburgh	2	449	4.4
Tapanui	8	627	12.7
Maniototo County	–	2,527	–
Naseby	2	276	7.2
Vincent County	7	3,930	1.7
Alexandra	9	679	13.2
Cromwelll	4	549	7.2
Lake County	1	1,749	0.5
Arrowtown	1	307	3.2
Queenstown	3	657	4.5
TOTAL	223	62,958	3.5

* includes Seacliff Mental Hospital

Dunedin

Place	Deaths	Population	Death rate
Roslyn	22	6,300	3.4
Maori Hill	4	2,075	1.9
North East Valley	18	4,750	3.7
Central Dunedin	63	21,290	2.9
Mornington	9	4,381	2.0
St Kilda	28	5,520	5.0
South Dunedin	30	6,687	4.4
Caversham	22	6,165	3.5
Green Island	15	1,841	8.1
St Clair	–	1,797	–
Port Chalmers	20	2,615	7.6
West Harbour	1	1,631	0.6
Tainui–Andersons Bay	4	1,871	2.1
Peninsula County	1	1,793	0.5
‘Dunedin’, no address (including soldiers who died in camp)	36
TOTAL	273	68,716	3.9

Southland

	*European*			*Maori*
Place	Deaths	Population	Death rate	Deaths	Population	Death rate
Southland County	100	23,531	4.2	1	43	23.2
Campbelltown (Bluff)	8	1,823	4.3
Gore	27	3,551	7.6
Lumsden	5	570	8.7
Mataura	13	1,129	11.5
Winton	19	1,155	16.4
Wyndham	13	991	13.1
Invercargill	171	15,866	10.7
Wallace County	65	7,729	8.4	7	92	76.0
Nightcaps and Wairio	33	718	45.9
Otautau	21	837	25.0
Riverton	16	985	16.2
Fiord County	–	17	–
Stewart Island County	–	349	–	1	4	250
TOTAL	491	59,251	8.2	9	139	64.7

Aftermath

Robert Makgill

Following the pandemic speculation continued over the Niagara's involvement in bringing the virus to New Zealand. The Department of Public Health was also heavily criticised. The government responded by setting up a royal commission with wide powers of investigation.

It fell to Robert Makgill, acting Chief Health Officer, to implement the Commission's recommendations. One of the recommendations, which Makgill had argued for, was for a new Health Act ‘to consolidate and simplify the existing legislation'. Historian Geoffrey Rice describes the resulting Health Act 1920 as ‘the most useful legacy of the 1918 influenza pandemic'. The legislation:

... was so well drafted that it survived with only minor amendments until the 1956 Health Act, which itself still followed the general pattern of the 1920 Act. At the time it was widely recognised as a model piece of health legislation, said to be the best of its kind in the English language.

Remembering the pandemic

As the government took steps towards improving the health system people began to return to their ordinary lives – often without parents, husbands, wives or other family members.

Considering the number of lives lost during pandemic it is surprising that the event has not had greater 'prominence in national histories and public monuments'. Geoffrey Rice suggests that its 'mark on the collective memory may have been more distinct' had it struck during peacetime.

Memorial to Dr Margaret Cruickshank

The pandemic was certainly remembered by those that lived through it. Visit our media gallery to read and hear some of their recollections. These are taken from a 1967 radio documentary produced by Jim Henderson and entitled The great plague. None of the interviewees are named in the documentary.

Two statues erected in Canterbury to honour doctors who died during the epidemic, Dr Little at Waikari and Dr Margaret Cruickshank (New Zealand's first woman doctor) at Waimate, are among the few public monuments to the victims of the pandemic.

Response to the influenza pandemic

There were consistencies in New Zealand's response to the influenza pandemic. Many of these arose out of a circular telegram the Health Minister, George Russell, issued to all borough councils and town boards. This ‘laid out a practical and comprehensive scheme of relief organisation in clear and concise language, and gave full initiative to the local authorities'. Many of the features of the scheme – such as the establishment of a central committee to coordinate relief and the division of areas into blocks or districts, each with its own ‘depot or bureau', were Auckland initiatives. Some towns and cities, such as Dunedin, had already taken steps to coordinate relief efforts, but Russell's circular undoubtedly prompted others to take action.

Cures and treatments

One action taken in many town and cities was to set up inhalation sprayers to disperse a solution of zinc sulphate to the public. Though ‘medically useless', this was the only approved preventative for influenza known to New Zealand's public health department. Most sprayers were set up in public buildings. They were made even more accessible in Christchurch after someone observed that the compressed-air braking units on trams ‘could be adapted to operate a sprayer by reconnecting a few hoses'. Eventually 14 trams were converted and ‘stationed on loops at the end of all major routes, handily placed to serve the outlying districts'. Some local authorities also disinfected streets and public buildings during the pandemic.

Armistice Day

Another response in many towns and cities was to close or restrict opening hours for public facilities and businesses, and cancel or postpone public events and gatherings. In many cases these actions were initiated by those in charge of relief efforts. For example, as soon as influenza was declared an infectious disease – giving local authorities greater ability ‘to check or prevent the spread of disease' – Auckland's district health officer, Dr Joseph Frengley, ordered the closure of ‘all public halls, places of entertainment, billiard rooms and shooting galleries for at least a week'. In some cases individual businesses chose to close because of depleted staff numbers, or to free employees to nurse those in their households or to volunteer to assist relief efforts.

The medical workforce

Doctors, nurses, chemists, and voluntary organisations such as the Red Cross, St John Ambulance and district nursing associations all played crucial roles during the pandemic. But they were spread very thinly across the country, particularly in smaller towns, which meant relief efforts relied heavily on volunteers. Some women, free of employment when schools or shops closed, became lay nurses. Both men and women served on block committees, answering phones or checking on those reported to be ill. Still more people helped their families, friends and neighbours as best they could, particularly where there were young children that needed care. People with any sort of vehicle found themselves in particular demand: to take food or medicine to stricken families, to transport the sick or to take away the dead.

There were other consistencies throughout the country, as the same rumours circulated widely. Some claimed that bodies were being cremated or buried in mass graves. None of these rumours turned out to be true. Some graves were left unmarked, but only in situations where the body could not be identified.

One alarming detail relating to victims' bodies that turned out to be true was that some of them turned black. But it was pneumonia, rather than the virus itself, that caused this. Pneumonia can lead to a condition known cyanosis, where ‘the amount of oxygen exchanged into the bloodstream is drastically reduced, and the skin loses its normal health pink hue, turning a dusky purple'. Historian Geoffrey Rice has described pneumonia as ‘the real killer in 1918'.

However deadly and disruptive the influenza epidemic was, it was also over quickly. By late November the epidemic had peaked or decreased in most parts of the country, and by early December it was effectively over.

Uneven rates of death

It is clear that no matter how the second wave developed in New Zealand, it was many times more deadly than any previous influenza outbreaks. No other event has killed so many New Zealanders in so short a space of time. While the First World War claimed the lives of more than 18,000 New Zealand soldiers over a four-year period, the second wave of the 1918 influenza epidemic killed almost 8600 people in less than two months.

Influenza in institutions

Death did not occur evenly throughout the country. Some communities were decimated; others escaped largely unscathed.

Maori suffered heavily: their overall rate of death was 42.3 per thousand people, seven times that of Europeans. In one community, Mangatawhiri in the Waikato, about 50 out of 200 local Maori died. Whina Cooper recalled similar suffering at Panguru, Hokianga:

Everyone was sick, no one to help, they were dying one after the other. My father was very, very sick then. He was the first to die. I couldn't do anything for him. I remember we put him in a coffin, like a box. There were many others, you could see them on the roads, on the sledges, the ones that are able to drag them away, dragged them away to the cemetery. No time for tangis.

Influenza among Maori

But there was an exception. Mortality amongst Maori on the East Coast of the North Island was, according to historian Geoffrey Rice, ‘much less than expected in comparison with other North Island districts’. This may have been because they had received partial immunity from the first wave which was reportedly widespread in the district during August and September.

The overall rate of death for Europeans was 5.8 per thousand people. But in some communities it was well above the national average.

Featherston military camp

The most striking of these was in the isolated coalmining district of Nightcaps and Wairio in Western Southland. Its rate of 45.9 deaths per thousand people rivalled that of many Maori communities.

Geoffrey Rice notes that ‘the only places where the mortality showed any uniformity were the military camps’. He describes them as ‘by far the most dangerous places to be in 1918’. At the Featherston and Trentham camps the rates were 22.6 and 23.5 deaths per thousand people respectively.

Rice comments that even the best answers of the variations in mortality rates ‘must remain to some extent speculative’, but concludes that:

The underlying cause of extreme variations in deaths was almost certainly the quirky nature of the patterns of partial immunity left by the mild first wave, together with the unpredictable behaviour of a virulent and rapidly mutating virus.

See also: death rates in suburbs and counties of the North Island and South Island

The pandemic begins abroad

The first wave

When the ‘new pandemic flu’ first appeared in 1918 there was no immediate cause for alarm. The disease was different to other strains experienced in the past – for example, it was unusually prevalent amongst young healthy adults. But most people affected by what would turn out to be ‘the first wave’ of the pandemic recovered.

The Spanish flu

The 1918 influenza pandemic was commonly referred to as ‘the Spanish flu’ but it did not originate in Spain. It was given the popular name by journalists when the Spanish King, Alfonso XIII, fell seriously ill with a form of influenza in May that year.

Evidence suggests that this ‘mild’ first wave originated in North America. Influenza was present in many countries in late 1917 and early 1918. According to influenza historian Geoffrey Rice, author of Black November, only a ‘well-documented’ outbreak in Haskell County, Kansas, in January–February 1918 bore all ‘the characteristics of a new pandemic flu – high attack rate, higher morbidity rate and greater mortality than is usual for influenza’.

The disease spread among recruits who entered Camp Funston in Kansas, then to camps in Georgia and South Carolina, and then rapidly across the Midwest.

American soldiers are also credited with bringing the disease to Europe, where the first cases appeared near the huge American transit camps at Brest and Bordeaux in early April. By June the first wave had spread across most civilian populations in Europe.

The first wave followed normal diffusion patterns and struck the southern hemisphere a few months later, becoming prevalent in New Zealand in September. By this time it had run its course in Europe and cases related to the more severe second wave were emerging.

The second wave

Second wave deaths

The first New Zealanders affected by the second wave of the 1918 influenza pandemic were soldiers of the 40th Reinforcement on board the troopship Tahiti. On 22 August their convoy – which had called at Cape Town, South Africa, en route to Plymouth, England – refuelled at Sierra Leone, West Africa. None of the crew or soldiers went ashore as fever was reported to be raging. But locals came on board to coal the ship, and within days over half of the men on board fell ill. The final death toll exceeded 80.

The first cases of a more severe form of influenza emerged amongst British and French troops serving on the Western Front early in July 1918. By mid-August the second wave, ‘a highly infectious flu, with sudden onset and an alarming propensity for pneumonic complications’, was spreading rapidly in France.

This time Europe would be responsible for infecting North America. By late September the second wave was well established in most of major cities.

The second wave did not follow normal diffusion patterns, instead striking the southern hemisphere while the disease was still raging in the northern hemisphere.

In October, for example, the flu was at its worst in countries as far apart as South Africa, Japan, China, Peru, Greece and Italy. It is now thought that the worldwide death toll was as high as 50 million.

According to historian Geoffrey Rice, the puzzle of the simultaneous outbreaks in both hemispheres may be resolved:

When one follows the very rapid diffusion from a July epicentre in eastern France: the second wave did not peak everywhere at the same time but was spread over four months, allowing ample time for diffusion by sea and rail.

Through the systematic analysis of individual death certificates, Rice calculated that New Zealand's peak of mortality occurred on 23 November 1918. This date has proved useful in dispelling the belief that the RMS Niagara was responsible for bringing a deadly new influenza virus to New Zealand.

Jack Hunn

Jack Hunn’s early career was spent in the Public Trust Office and in the Public Service Association. In 1946 he became an Inspector in the Public Service Commission (later the State Services Commission).

In 1960 he was appointed temporary head of the Maori Affairs Department. Walter Nash, the Prime Minister and Minister of Maori Affairs, asked Hunn to undertake an accounting of Māori assets. Hunn commissioned a series of wide-ranging studies on Māori population, housing, education, employment, health, crime and land titles. He put these into a comprehensive report on the state of Māori. It painted a disturbing picture of Māori on the social and economic margins.

Hunn claimed that integrating Māori into Pākehā society was the answer, rather than strengthening their separate cultural identity. He welcomed the growing urban Māori population as it was the "quickest and surest way of integrating the two species of New Zealander", and would prevent a "colour problem".

Critics were quick to point out that Hunn did not understand a growing Māori desire to strengthen their cultural identity. Hunn pointed out that his report was a discussion document, and the Nash Labour government did not publish it during their term. But it strongly influenced the National government’s Māori policies during the 1960s.

Māui Pōmare

Maui Pomare

Māui Pōmare, of Ngāti Mutunga and Ngāti Toa, was born in 1875 or 1876. His mother, Mere Hautonga Nicoll, was the daughter of Kahe Te Rau-o-te-rangi, one of the few women to sign the Treaty of Waitangi.

His parents were followers of the pacifist prophets Te Whiti o Rongomai and Tohu Kākahi, and sometimes resided at their Parihaka settlement. Pōmare was present at Parihaka when it was invaded and destroyed by the Armed Constabulary in 1881.

He was educated at Te Aute College, where he was taught about modern theories of hygiene, promoted by James Pope, the Inspector of Native Schools. He came to believe that many aspects of Māori culture conflicted with health and hygiene. This view did not appeal to traditional Māori leaders.

In 1893 Pōmare left to study in the United States. He attended the American Medical Missionary College in Chicago, and graduated MD in 1899, returning to New Zealand the following year.

In 1900 there were fears of a bubonic plague, and the government addressed the problem of substandard hygiene and housing in the main centres and rural Māori settlements. Pōmare became Māori Medical Officer in 1901. District Māori Councils were also set up to prepare regulations on sanitation and hygiene. Pōmare travelled widely, inspecting water supplies and sanitary arrangements, and advising the Māori Councils. He became a skilled speaker when visiting Māori communities, which helped him break through the conservative attitudes of many older tribal leaders. He actively sought to remove the influence of tohunga (traditional healers), and supported the Tohunga Suppression Act of 1907. He believed assimilation into Pākehā society presented the best hope for the Māori people.

After 1907 the government lost interest in health reform and cut back funding for the Māori Councils. As a result the Councils stopped much of their work, and Pōmare was transferred to the Native Department.

In 1911 he was elected to Parliament representing Western Māori. When Massey's Reform government came to power in 1912 he was made a member of the Executive Council representing Māori. He was unable to win major health reforms, although he tried hard to settle Taranaki land claims. He was knighted in 1922.

In 1923 he became Minister of Health. As Minister he introduced maternity hospitals and new medical techniques. This significantly reduced infant and maternal mortality among both Māori and Europeans.

Working with Āpirana Ngata and others he was instrumental in setting up the Sim Commission, which inquired into land confiscations (raupatu) in 1927. The Commission, although working with limited terms of reference, upheld many longstanding grievances arising from the raupatu. Pōmare died in 1930.

Adapted from the DNZB biography by Graham Butterworth

Read the full biography in Te Ara Biographies

Māui Wiremu Piti Naera Pōmare

Ka whānau mai a Māui Pōmare i te tau 1875, 1876 rānei. Ko ōna iwi ko Ngāti Mutunga me Ngāti Toa. Hei tamāhine tōna whāea a Mere Hautonga Nicoll nā Kahe Te Rau-o-te-rangi, tētahi o ngā wāhine tokoiti ka haina i te Tiriti o Waitangi. He pononga ōna mātua nā Te Whiti o Rongomai me Tohu Kākahi, ngā matakite mautohe mārire. I ētahi wā ka noho ōna mātua ki tō rātou kāinga kei Parihaka. I reira a Pōmare i te tau 1881 i te wā ka whakaekengia a Parihaka e ngā Pirihimana Mau Pū.

I kuraina a Pōmare ki te kāreti o Te Aute. I reira ka ākona ia ki ngā ariā hou mō te noho i runga i te mā, e whakahauhia rā e Te Pōpi (James Pope), te Kaititiro o ngā Kura Māori. Ka toko te whakaaro ki roto i a Pōmare kei te taupatupatu ngā tikanga a te Māori ki te hauora me te horoi. Kāore ētahi o ngā tohunga Māori i rata ki ana kōrero.

I te tau 1893 ka wehe a Pōmare ki te whai i te mātauranga ki Amerika. Ka kuhu a ia ki te Kāreti o Amerika mō ngā Tākuta Mihinare (American Medical Missionary College) i Chicago, ā, nō te tau 1899 ka puta ia i ana whakamātautau MD; nō te tau o muri ka hoki ia ki Aotearoa.

I te tau 1900 i te noho mataku a Aotearoa kei whakaekea e te mate piwa urutā. Ka tahuri te kāwanatanga ki te whakatika i te paru o te noho a te iwi Māori, tae noa ki te kino o te āhua o ngā whare i ngā tāone nui me ngā kāinga Māori. Ka eke a Pōmare hei Āpiha mō te Hauora Māori i te tau 1901. Ka whakatūria ngā kaunihera ā-rohe hei whakatakoto ritenga mō te noho paru kore. Ka takahi a Pōmare i te roa, i te whānui o te whenua ki te arotake i ngā wai mō ngā hapori, i ngā whakaritenga paru kore, ki te āwhina hoki i ngā Kaunihera ā-rohe. Ka tau ia ki te kōrero ki ngā huinga Māori; he āwhina nui tēnei mōna, mai kore ka ngāwari ngā kaumātua ki a ia me ana kaupapa. Ka whakapau kaha a ia kia tāmia te awe o ngā tohunga. Ka tautoko ia i te Ture Whakamutu Tohunga o te tau 1907. I tino whakapono a Pōmare, ka ora te iwi Māori mā te whai i ngā tikanga a tauiwi.

Whai muri i te tau 1907, ka mutu te aro nui a te kāwanatanga ki ngā āhuatanga hauora, ā, ka tapahia ngā tahua ki ngā Kaunihera Māori ā-rohe. Nāwai ā, ka mutu te nuinga o ngā mahi a ngā Kaunihera, ka tonoa a Pōmare ki te Tari mō ngā Take Māori mahi ai.

I te tau 1911 ka uru a Pōmare ki te Pāremata hei Mema Māori mō Te Tai Hau-ā-uru. Nō te tau 1912 ka kuhu ko te rōpū Riwhōma hei kāwanatanga, ka whakatūria a Pōmare ki te Rōpū Whiriwhiri hei kanohi mō te iwi Māori. Kāore i tutuki ana tūmanako kia whakarerekēngia te pūnaha hauora. Hāunga, i whakapau kaha ia ki te whakatau i ngā kerēme whenua i Taranaki.

I te tau 1923 ka tohungia ko ia hei Minita mō te Hauora. I tēnei wā, ka whakatūria ngā whare hōhipera whakawhānau pēpi, ka whakaurua mai ngā tikanga hou ki te whānuitanga o ngā kaupapa hauora. Kātahi ka iti ake te matemate o ngā kōhungahunga me ngā whaea, Māori mai, Pākehā mai.

Ka mahi tahi rāua ko Āpirana Ngata kia tū te Kōmihana a Sim i te tau 1927 ki te rangahau i ngā raupatunga whenua. Ahakoa te whāiti o tana titiro, ka whakaae te Kōmihana ki te rahi o ngā kerēme ka pupū i ngā mahi raupatu i te whenua. Ka mate a Pōmare i te tau 1930.

Peter Buck

Peter Buck (1877?–1951), also known as Te Rangi Hīroa, was of the Taranaki tribe Ngāti Mutunga. He was educated at Te Aute College and the University of Otago Medical School, where he qualified as a doctor.

In 1905 he worked as a Māori medical officer, under another Te Aute graduate, Māui Pōmare. Buck and Pōmare joined forces to improve the sanitation of Māori settlements and the health of the Māori people. The more conservative Māori leaders often opposed them.

Buck, who was based in Northland, was unexpectedly elected to Parliament representing Northern Māori in 1909. He served on the Native Affairs Committee and was briefly in Cabinet as representative of the Māori people. He stood unsuccessfully for the general (European) Bay of Islands seat in 1914. This marked the end of his parliamentary career.

During the First World War he worked hard to encourage Māori to enlist. He served in the Middle East, Gallipoli and France as a medical officer. He was twice mentioned in dispatches and was made a DSO. By the end of the war he held the rank of major.

After the war Buck was appointed director of the Maori Hygiene Division of the Department of Health. The Māori death rate during the influenza pandemic of 1918 was five to seven times that of Europeans. Consequently, Māori leaders worked with medical authorities to stop the spread of infectious diseases, making Buck's task a little easier.

Later in life he lived mostly overseas, pursuing his interest in anthropology and writing on Māori culture and society. He was awarded honorary doctorates by a number of universities, including the University of New Zealand and Yale. He received a knighthood in 1946.

Adapted from the DNZB biography by M. P. K. Sorrenson

Read the full biography in Te Ara Biographies

Te Rangi Hīroa

Ko Ngāti Mutunga o Taranaki te iwi o Te Rangi Hīroa (1877?–1951). I kuraina ia ki te Kāreti o Te Aute, ka puta i te Kura Tākuta o Ōtākou.

I te tau 1905 e mahi ana a ia hei āpiha hauora mō te Māori i raro i tētahi atu ākonga o Te Aute, a Māui Pōmare. Ka mahi tahi a Te Rangi Hīroa rāua ko Pōmare kia paru kore ngā kāinga, kia piki te hauora ki te iwi Māori. He rahi tonu ngā rangatira o te ao Māori kāore i rata ki ā rāua mahi.

E noho ana a Te Rangi Hīroa ki Te Tai Tokerau i te tau 1909. Tumeke katoa ia i tana pōtitanga hei Mema Pāremata Māori mō taua rohe. Ka uru a ia hei mema mō te Komiti mō ngā Take Māori, ā, mō tētahi wā poto ko ia tērā te kanohi mō te iwi Māori ki te rūnanga kāwanatanga. Ka tū a ia mō te rohe Pākehā o Pēwhairangi i te tau o 1914, hauwarea. Ko te mutunga tērā o tana whai i ngā tūranga ki te Pāremata.

I te Pakanga Tuatahi o te Ao ka whakapau kaha ia ki te whakahau i ngā Māori kia kuhu hei hōia. Ka haere a ia hei āpiha hauora ki Īhipa, ki Karipori, ki Wīwī. E rua ngā wā ka whakaingoatia a Te Rangi Hīroa i ngā tuhituhi ki ōna āpiha teitei mō tōna māia. Ka whakawhiwhia ia ki te tohu DSO. Tae rawa ki te mutunga o ngā riri kua kake a ia hei meiha.

I tana hokinga ki Aotearoa i te mutunga o ngā riri, ka tohungia a Te Rangi Hīroa hei kaiwhakahaere o te Wāhanga Hauora Māori o te Tari Hauora. E rima ki te whitu whakaraunga te tokomaha ake o ngā Māori i matemate i te urutā rewharewha o te tau 1918 tēnā i te tokomaha o ngā Pākehā. Whāia, ka mahi tahi ngā rangatira Māori me ngā āpiha hauora ki te tāmi i ngā urutā tērā ka pā; nā tēnei mahinga tahitanga, ka māmā ake ngā mahi a Te Rangi Hīroa.

I tōna pakeketanga ka noho ia ki tāwāhi i te nuinga o te wā ki te whai i te mātauranga tikanga tangata, ki te tuhi kōrero hoki mō ngā tikanga me te ahurea o te Māori. Ka whakawhiwhia ia ki te tohu tākuta hōnore e te Whare Wānanga o Aotearoa, e te Whare Wānanga o Yale, e wai atu, e wai atu. I te tau 1946 ka ūhia e taitara Tā ki runga i a ia. Nō te tau 1951 ka mate a Te Rangi Hīroa.

District nurse weighing baby, Waihara

District nurse weighing a baby, Waihara gumfields, Northland in the 1940s.

Credit:

Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: F-6308-1/1
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

tags:

maori health

Shared issues and approaches

Māori were increasingly aware of the grievances they shared. By the early 20th century, many were also in dire circumstances. There was high infant mortality, low life expectancy and a lack of good land. Prospects looked bleak, but new leaders with new ideas were emerging.

Growing unity

After the wars of the 1860s many Māori realised the extent of shared grievances against the Crown. Honouring the terms of the Treaty of Waitangi was seen as a means of redress. The Repudiation Movement, based in Hawke's Bay, organised a series of widely attended meetings throughout the 1870s. In 1879 the Ngati Whatua leader Paora Tuhaere staged a parliament at Orakei where these matters were fully debated.

Government actions sometimes united Māori. In November 1881 government forces invaded the southern Taranaki settlement of Parihaka and detained, without trial, its pacifist leaders Te Whiti o Rongomai and Tohu Kakahi. Māori the length of the country were concerned.

From 1882 the first of several Māori representatives travelled to England to present petitions before their Treaty of Waitangi partner. All were referred back to the New Zealand government, which rejected their pleas. After one such deputation, King Tawhiao wrote to the governor in exasperation: 'no matter how you may be addressed you will not regard nor reciprocate'. Many chiefs shared the sentiment.

Tawhiao set up the Kauhanganui, or King's Council, with its own constitution and governance structures. Tribes outside the Kingitanga developed similar initiatives. One was the Kotahitanga (Unity) movement. In 1892 its first Māori parliament was held – Te Kotahitanga o Te Tiriti o Waitangi. This met annually for a decade, unrecognised by New Zealand's Parliament.

A new leadership

Komiti meeting, Wellington, 1913

By the end of the 19th century, Māori social and economic prospects looked poor. The Māori population had fallen to a low of about 42,000 in 1891. Māori councils, set up in 1900 to address self-governance and improve Māori health and sanitation, had few resources and limited authority. Politicians worried that Māori would become a burden on the state.

A new generation of Māori leaders emerged in the early 20th century. These men aimed to ensure the survival of Māori culture through modernisation. Their approach was based firmly within the mainstream, rather than following the separatist strategies that had seemingly failed in the 1890s.

The new leaders came to be known as the Young Maori Party, although they were not a formal political party. They had attended some of the Native or Maori schools, set up after 1867 (and abolished in 1969). Many Māori communities were keen to grasp the educational opportunities these schools offered. Importantly, these men had been educated at the elite Te Aute College in Hawke's Bay, which supplied leaders in many areas of Māori society. They comprised a group of politician knights: Sir Apirana Ngata, Sir Peter Buck (Te Rangi Hiroa) and Sir Maui Pomare. These men, bilingual and scholarly, emphasised hygiene, sanitation and temperance, and believed in the value of a European-based education system while retaining te reo (the Māori language) in the home.

James Carroll of Ngati Kahungunu paved the way for these men. He was the first Māori to be elected to a general or European seat in Parliament (1893) and the first Māori Minister of Native Affairs (1899). In 1909 and 1911 he was Acting Prime Minister – the first Māori to hold such a position. Carroll's bicultural heritage was reflected in his philosophy. He was convinced that Māori could succeed within European society provided they received a fair go. His own successful political career seemed proof.

Maui Pomare and Peter Buck played pivotal roles in improving Māori health and housing. Apirana Ngata, the first Māori to graduate from a New Zealand university, was MP for Eastern Maori (1905–43) and helped set up schemes to develop Māori lands into workable farming units. When he became Minister of Native Affairs, Ngata presided over large-scale Māori land development schemes. There was some government funding to assist Māori development and the settlement of ownership claims over Lake Taupo and the Rotorua lakes.