THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC SITUATION OF HAURAKI MAORI AFTER COLONISATION

participation in that new economy, except as disadvantaged dependents. Maori were relegated to the bottom of the socio-economic heap. Even in that lowly position, there is evidence to suggest that they were limited in their access to various forms of wage labour, the main support of Pakeha in a similar situation.

1.25 The evidences of social deprivation are plentiful. Maori health suffered from endemic and epidemic diseases, the incidence and severity of which are closely related to the standard of living. Housing, sanitation and nutrition conditions encouraged the spread of infection and diminished the capacity to resist it. While it is the case that Maori, here as elsewhere, were still characterised by a lack of inherited immunity to introduced diseases, the conditions in which they lived accentuated this vulnerability It is generally accepted that there is a link between a high incidence of such illnesses and persistent low living standards—they are commonly known as 'the diseases of poverty'

1.26 While the existence of such conditions is clear enough, the question of responsibility for their existence, and for the meagre level of ameliorative action, is more complex. One answer to this question which needs to be explored at the outset is that Maori themselves, thanks to what was considered to be their fecklessness and irresponsibility, were the authors of their own misfortune. The frequently censorious Native Agent, E.W. Puckey, summed up this attitude in 1879: 'the Natives at Hauraki ... so far as civilisation is concerned ... seem incapable of progressing' (AJHR 1879 GO. Certainly some Maori, including tribal leaders of great standing, assisted the colonisation process which brought about their misfortunes; a few among them were active promoters and derived considerable personal advantage from it. It is certain, too, that many Maori succumbed to the temptations offered by the chances to acquire quick and ready cash. But the question remains: what other options were open to them?

1.27 There is no shortage of evidence to show that some Maori agreed to the cession of mining rights and to the leasing of timber-bearing lands, and that a few were investors in gold and timber companies. They accepted the revenues which flowed from these agreements. They were party to the transactions which radically reduced Maori land ownership, both by selling interests before Land Court determination and by subsequently accepting the offers of government and private purchasers to complete the sales. In fact, they often took the initiative in offering their shares and their lands to prospective purchasers. They slipped into dependence upon cash returns from transactions of this kind and are frequently reported to have neglected food production in favour of store-bought goods.

1.28 All this is true, but not true enough. Maori were under constant political (and in the 1860s military) pressure to accede to the demands of government and private purchasers. After the experience of war in nearby Waikato, the blockade in the gulf and confiscation on the borders of their rohe, tribal leaders could have reasonably concluded that the peace was going to be at least as hard as the war; while some concluded that the

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