Chapter I: Government Policy and Maori Reaction, 1880-1890
increasingly urgent by the 187os. We have seen, in Volume 4, that the Government's desire to facilitate the opening of the interior by improvement of the navigation of the Waihou River, the construction of the road along the east bank, and of a railway to Ohinemuri connecting to Waikato and Tauranga, ran into resistance from Maori on a number of points. Opposition related to the complex intermingling of tribal interests generated by the rich resources of the area and the continuing support for the King movement in the delta and up-river region. But considerable suspicion also existed among Maori about whether the Government would construct roads and railways over their lands without their consent, and whether it was intended to take land without payment. Other issues also arose: the right of Maori right-holders to receive payment for stones and gravel taken from Hikutaia Creek for railway ballast, whether Maori interests were considered by Government in decisions as to where lines should run, and whether they would be subject to road taxes.
The focus of Maori complaint when the Hauraki iwi met with Ballance in 1885 was the practice of road building—and in particular, the neglect of protections—rather than the power of the Government to take land for public works. They complained that the route of roads at best ignored Maori needs while respecting Pakeha interests; at worst, took essential Maori lands to avoid taking those of European owners. The perception of favouritism in the construction of roads had played a role in the resistance at Komata.16 Tareranui who participated in the meetings between Tukukino and the Chairman of the Thames County Council in 1880, drew attention to the issue, implying that the needs of the Maori community were being neglected:
[T]he County Chairman seemed anxious to have a road made which according to his showing would confer a benefit upon only one person whereas he had some forty or fifty others living at Opakura who had no means of access to Paeroa without breaking down fences and otherwise trespassing on lands sold to Pakehas.17
He repeated this sort of complaint in the meetings with Ballance. Tareranui drew first on the example of Paeroa township where Maori reserves were transected:
The Council have determined to run a road right through the Native cultivations. The Maoris say "No; it should not be so, because you take land from us that is available for cultivation." The Council say, "We want to do it in order to make the road straight." Now there is a European block close to it; the road goes over it, but the road is bent, and the Council never attempted there to straighten it; but over this Maori land they straighten it by taking it through the land. The portion where the road goes over Maori land is called "Te Pure-o-te-Rangi."18
Beyond this point the road would take in another three or four acre block of Maori land remaining in the township. Tareranui then condemned the way in which the road to Te Aroha was laid out:
16 See discussion in R. Anderson, The Crown, the Treaty, and the Hauraki Tribes, 1800--188s, Hauraki Maori Trust Board, Paeroa, 1997, pp. 253-261.
17 'Notes of a meeting ... August 30 1880.' In Komata special block file. MA 13/44
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