There are many denominations of believers. There are Roman Catholics, Churchmen, Wesleyans, and why should there not be Pai Marire, let me be as I am. I did not say that another was to join me. I saw that it was good, and that God was above sheltering me, and I did not wish to stand aside from under him, so I took hold of him. As it is, son, your word is Pai Marire.

This is comparable with Tawhiao ’ s image of religious groups as three baskets of teachings, Roman Catholic, Anglican, Wesleyan, and now with Pai Marire in another basket, he was so much the richer. Few Maoris perceived the strict boundaries of church organisation which Europeans, particularly the missionaries themselves, considered so important. Pai Marire was a unique Maori interpretation of Christianity born out of the cultural stresses and conflicts of the 1860s.

No European observer of the period seems to have fully appreciated the true role of Pai Marire in Maori terms. Most considered that the ruthless military campaigns against the Hauhaus were both justified and successful. W.G. Mair, reporting in 1872 (AJHR F3, 1872) commented:

It cannot be doubted that Hauhauism is fast dying out. The form of worship in use among the Kingites, when weeded of the strings of meaningless words retained from the karakia of Te Ua, does not present anything objectionable. It consists in great part of supplication of the Deity to guard and preserve Tawhiao.

In 1873 H.T. Clarke reported from Tauranga (AJHR G1 1873), “ We are in a state of profound peace in this district ” and he did not expect to be disturbed because of the “ conciliatory policy ” now being exercised by government.

Our relation with our Hauhau neighbours is improving daily; not only do they visit our settlements for purposes of trade, but they consult our officers in cases of perplexity… With the Hauhaus the one great source of trouble is the land. Many of them have claims on the Waikato side of the ranges which are being dealt with by the Ngati Haua for their own benefit and I am becoming more and more convinced that the Government ought to retain in their own hands large restrictive powers to check the eager advances made by European speculators and runholders… In the event of a conflict with the Waikato, should any such calamity arise, our altered relations with the Ngati Raukawa will greatly tend to the security of the Bay of Plenty districts in general and Tauranga in particular, inasmuch as the frontier of the settled district may now be considered to be removed from the forest line within fourteen miles [22.5km] of this town to the Waikato, and I beg to suggest to the Government the advisability of cultivating by every possible means our good relations with that once formidable tribe.

For some years the Hautere area remained remote to Europeans and regarded as hostile. There is little information recorded about Kuranui and other villages in the area. No enumerator visited these villages for they are not listed in any of the Maori Censuses in the nineteenth century, although they are clearly marked as kainga or villages on several plans in the early 1870s.