5.1 Though the size of the pre-contact Maori population remains a matter of conjecture, there is no dispute about its subsequent sharp and continuing decline. Even though New Zealand Maori did not suffer in the i9th century from 'the great apocalyptic diseases' which were so lethal elsewhere in the Pacific—malaria, bubonic plague, yellow fever, smallpox and typhus—disease was still the major cause of the decline. Early outbreaks were almost certainly limited to the coastal locations of initial contact—'each newly arrived ship brought its own cargo of viruses, bacteria and other pathogens'. At first the low density and wide dispersal of the Maori population limited the effect of these outbreaks. However, the rapid increase and spread of the settler population after 184o ended this protection and 'set up the mechanisms for the widespread exposure of Maori to imported diseases' (Pool, pp. 45-46 for quotations in this paragraph).
5.z Hauraki was affected both by the initial coastal outbreaks and by the subsequent increased exposure brought about by rapid settlement on a major scale. Among people who had not yet built up 'their basic immune stocks', (Pool, p. 87) diseases which were customary among the Pakeha who brought them had much more severe consequences. The main epidemic diseases were measles, whooping cough, typhoid, influenza, mumps and scarlet fever. Further, there was a high 'non-epidemic mortality' from bronchitis and tuberculosis (which was reported as scrofula and phthisis) (Pool, pp. 83-84 and Fig. 54. These diseases figure prominently in the Hauraki evidence cited in this report.
5.3 Officials took an interest in Maori health from the early years of government, and an especial interest in the factors making for the decline of the population. While Maori health was a cause of genuine concern, it was also a matter of anxiety because it endangered Pakeha well-being. But at the same time, high Maori mortality (and what was taken to be a decline in fertility) served to confirm the moral and physical superiority of the colonists. Given this ambivalence, between compassion, self-interest and self-congratulation, it is not surprising that Maori health presented a problem which governments found they could neither leave alone nor manage effectively.
5.4 In the early 20th century Maori health became something of a bureaucratic football, tossed to and fro between departments of state. In 1906 the responsibility was
