Introduction: Overview and Argument

claimed. Only in a few cases (notably the Fairburn purchase) did the Crown acquire a significant amount of land deemed 'surplus' to the amount granted to settlers (The 'Bell report', AJHR 1862 Dm, 1863 D14; [Ward], Historical report on South Auckland lands).

1.8 Pakeha settlement of Hauraki increased slowly in the 184os and 185os, but a major increase occurred on the western side of the gulf where Auckland enjoyed a spectacular growth. By 1852 the settler population of the region centred upon the Tamaki isthmus had reached about io,000. This had a major commercial impact upon Hauraki; Auckland for a few profitable years became a market for Maori producers of a variety of food products and of fuel (Stone, pp. 7-9). This trade shows that Maori were capable of putting their resources to good use in responding to the commercial openings presented by colonisation. They also purchased equipment—flour mills, cutters and iron tools—to pursue their commercial goals. It is likely that they expected similar advantages to accrue from the gold and timber exploitation which lay in the near future. However, the trade boom of the 185os was short-lived and some would-be Maori entrepreneurs ran into debt. Trade appears to have fallen away after 1856 and to have ceased altogether with the government imposed blockade of the early 1860s, a war measure designed to separate Hauraki King supporters from the Waikato region.

1.9 Other changes, however, which also began in the 1850s, were to lead to the transformation of the region within little more than two decades. Timber exploitation, especially of kauri, became established. Though much of the trade was in the hands of Pakeha entrepreneurs, with Maori receiving royalties and rents, some Maori were themselves entrepreneurs, felling and selling timber trees while still working communally. The early timber trade was to the mutual advantage of Maori and Pakeha, but this phase was superseded by settler capitalist control. The first gold rush occurred in the Coromandel district in 1852. It led nowhere at the time, but the episode demonstrated the determination of both settlers and government to exploit the mineral wealth of the region. It also showed the resolve of Maori to assert their right to the resources that lay under their land. During the next decade it became clear that the former ambition was to prevail.

Though not yet on a major scale, government land purchasing also became significant in the 185os. Though many of the transactions begun in that decade were not to be completed until much later, by 1860 government purchasing agents had established significant beachheads as well as some inland enclaves, chiefly in the north of the peninsula, on the gulf islands and to the south and west of the Firth. It has been calculated, for the Coromandel Peninsula only, that government purchases from 1840 to 1865 amounted to around 48,000 acres, making up from 6 to 7% of the total area. Most of these sales took place after 1853 (Kate Riddell, Pre-I865 Crown purchases, pp. 3-4). In addition, negotiations were initiated in this period affecting many other blocks, a number in the Piako district, which were later to result in completed purchases.

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