Opening of goldfields harmful to Maori

In practice, the opening of the goldfields was deeply destructive to the tangata whenua. If warfare and confiscation subdued Waikato, economic penetration broke Hauraki. Dextrous diplomacy, largely in the hands of Crown officials and Ministers, opened up Hauraki lands in a way that locked local Maori into the western economic system. In the process their traditional society was laid waste.

James Mackay's Crucial Role Source of his extensive power

It would be difficult to exaggerate how crucial was the part played by Mackay in the opening up of Hauraki goldfields. He, in association with Hotereni Taipari, won over Ngati Maru to allow mining on the Thames, where the industry built up an unstoppable momentum which led, by 1900, to mining operations being carried out throughout the whole Coromandel range. Originally appointed as Assistant Native Secretary to coax rebel members of Marutuahu back to a state of allegiance to the Crown, Mackay (in May 1864 appointed Civil Commissioner for the Hauraki district) lost no time or opportunity in 'pointing out to the Natives the advantages which would be derived from the leasing of their auriferous lands.'126

The volatile and unpredictable political situation was one custom-built for a man of his personality and diverse experience. He was a fluent speaker of Maori, had had first-hand knowledge of goldfields in Collingwood in Nelson, and had been a successful negotiator of land deals with Maori in the South Island.127 This background, and his standing (over those particular years) as a protégé of McLean, meant that on his appointment as a Commissioner, he was given much more of a loose rein than was normal. Between 1864 and 1867 Mackay combined his peacemaking assignment with the advocacy to Maori chiefs of the advantages to be gained from throwing open auriferous areas to miners.128 He held meetings in all quarters of the region, befriending some chiefs, and ascertaining where pockets of disaffection were. By 1867 he had acquired almost a monopoly of first-hand knowledge of the region. Because he was the 'man on the spot' in a politically delicate region, his seniors in Auckland and Wellington were prone to defer to him, as he himself often demanded that they should. In typical manner he wrote to the superintendent of Auckland in 1867:

I hope the Government will leave that question [opening up Ohinemuri] entirely in my hands as the interference of any other person will complicate matters; as few are sufficiently acquainted with the previous history of Native affairs here and are likely to be misled by hastily formed conclusions and inaccurate information.129

126 AJHR, 1869, A-17, p. 4. (Tense changed.)

127 According to P.R. May in The West Coast Gold Rushes, Christchurch, 1962, Mackay had been 'a particularly successful land purchase agent' in the South Island, and one who '"understood" the Maoris — perhaps not always to their advantage'; cit. Alison Drummond (ed.), The Thames Journals of Vicesimus Lush, Christchurch, 1975, p. 22.

128 James Mackay, The Opening of the Hauraki District for Gold Mining, Auckland, 1897, pp. 23-24.

129 Mackay to Superintendent, 5 August 1867, ACL A208/611, NARC.

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