Apirana Ngata - Early Political Career

Early Political Career

Ngata quickly distinguished himself in Parliament as a skilled orator. He worked closely with his friend Carroll, and also worked closely with Robert Stout. Ngata and Stout, members of the Native Land Commission, were often critical of the government's policies towards Māori, particularly those designed at encouraging the sale of Māori land. In 1909, Ngata assisted John Salmond in the drafting of the Native Land Act.

In late 1909, Ngata was appointed to Cabinet, holding a minor ministerial responsibility for Māori land councils. He retained this position until 1912, when the Liberal government was defeated. Ngata followed the Liberals into Opposition.

In the First World War, Ngata was highly active in gathering Māori recruits for military service, working closely with Reform Party MP Maui Pomare. Ngata's own Ngāti Porou were particularly well represented among the volunteers. The Māori commitment to the war by some iwi, which became a mainly Cook Island committment after 1942, can be attributed to Ngata and Pomare, created a certain amount of goodwill from Pākehā towards iwi who had loyally supported the country, and assisted Ngata's later attempts to resolve land grievances.

Although in Opposition, Ngata enjoyed relatively good relations with his counterparts across the House in the Reform Party. He had a particularly good relationship with Gordon Coates, who became Prime Minister in 1925 and later "princess" Te Puea of Waikato. The establishment of several government bodies, such as the Māori Purposes Fund Control Board and the Board of Māori Ethnological Research, owed much to Ngata's involvement.

During this time, Ngata was also active in a huge variety of other endeavours. The most notable, perhaps, was his involvement in academic and literary circles – in this period, he published a number of works on significant Māori culture, with Nga moteatea, a collection of Māori songs, being one of his better known works. Ngata was also heavily involved in the protection and advancement of Māori culture among Māori themselves, giving particular attention to promoting the haka, poi dancing, and traditional carving that had been begun by Te Puea. One aspect of his advocacy of Māori culture was the construction of many new traditional meeting houses throughout the country. Yet another of Ngata's interests was the promotion of Māori sport, which he fostered by encouraging intertribal competitions and tournaments. Finally, Ngata also promoted Māori issues within the Anglican Church, encouraging the creation of a Māori bishopric. Throughout all this, Ngata also remained deeply involved in the affairs of his Ngāti Porou iwi, particularly as regards land development. He was instrumental in establishing the land incorporation scheme whereby unused Maori land with multiple owners were amalgamated under a farm manager -often Pakeha, who developed and ran the farm. In government he was able to arrange for the transfer of four blocks of farm land to Te Puea and her husband. He arranged grants and government loans to help her develop farms for Waikato. He fired the Pakeha farm manager and replaced him with Te Puea. He arranged a car for her so she could travel around her estates. In 1934, during the depression, the public, media and parliament became alarmed at the large sums of money being gifted to Te Puea and others . A Royal commission was held and Ngata was found guilty of maladministration and misappropriation of funds.500,000 pounds had been transferred from government funds to Maori. Ngata resigned in disgrace.

Ngata was knighted in 1927, only the third Māori (after Carroll and Pomare) to receive this honour.