the King of Waiou' is richly documented. Webster was in fact no more than a small part of a fairly large pattern. And although, in all those trading activities in which he was caught up, he seemed at first essential, he soon proved not to be; Hauraki Maori were, in fact, substantially in control of their own economic destinies. They became even more so when the capital was established on the Waitemata. Like other tribes in proximity to Auckland they were full economic partners of Pakeha, co-operators in the founding of a colony.

Maori as Economic Partners in Early Auckland

Maori were the provisioners of the infant capital. This service was provided at first by those iwi and hapu resident on the isthmus or close to it: Ngati Whatua, small pockets of Waikato tribes (such as Ngati Te Ata and Ngati Maoho), and two Hauraki tribes on the capital's perimeter, Ngati Paoa and Ngaitai. In the early 1840s, these tribes and Ngati Whatua most of all, provided food, firewood, housing and much else. Maori were seen as essential to the colonizing process. An early settler hailed them as 'our very life blood, the vital fluid'.12 Another testified that as suppliers of food and labour, and as customers they were 'the chief supporters of the country'.13

With the steady rise during the Crown Colony period (1840-52) of Auckland's European population on the isthmus and in adjoining settlements, to a figure approaching 10,000,14 there was a proportionate growth in Maori trade, especially on the part of those operating from further afield—in the Waikato, Hauraki, Bay of Plenty, Poverty Bay. Participation by Hauraki seems to have been unusually large, which should not be considered surprising when one recalls that they were a sea-faring people, ambitiously competitive, and mercantile in spirit. But giving a precise statistical measure of this Hauraki participation is not easy, as will become clear.

Extent of Hauraki Participation in Trade with Capital

An Auckland newspaper remarked in 1853 that 'As landowners, farmers, graziers, shipowners, and artisans, Maori had shown themselves to be the main prop of New Zealand'.15

Produce was brought by Maoris to the port of Auckland from 1st April to 30th June 1853, in 549 canoes, with total crews of 1830 men and 686 women: 2781 kits potatoes, 211 kits onions, 2988 kits maize, 281 kits kumaras, 317 kits cabbages, 1181 bundles grass, 727 tons wood, 5 tons fish, 254 pigs, 12 tons flour, 559 bushels wheat, 112 kits pumpkins, 200 kits kauri gum. Total value £2,900.

Since official statistics for trade at the port of Auckland are totals only, making no distinction between participating tribes, the precise share of Hauraki can not be determined. But two items of qualitative evidence found in Swainson and Turoa suggest it would have been considerable. Drawing on oral traditions, Turoa has written of the Crown colony years (1840-52): 'The Hauraki tribes . . . documented great

12 New-Zealander, 13 Feb. 1847.

13 Walter Brodie, Remarks on the Past and Present Stage of New Zealand, London, 1845, p. 120.

14 Statistics of New Zealand, Table 1.

15 J.P. Kalaugher, Gleanings from Early New Zealand History, Auckland, 1950, p. 36.

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