King Country (New Zealand Electorate) - History

History

The electorate was created in 1972, and combined with the adjacent rural electorate of Taranaki in 1996 to form the Taranaki-King Country electorate for MMP. It was held by former Prime Minister Jim Bolger for the whole of its 24 years.

The name King Country comes from the Māori King Movement that began in 1850 as a response to the arrival of large numbers of British settlers seeking land and the purchase of land by the Colonial government from various Maori Iwi (tribes). After the 1863 attack on the Kingitanga rebels in the Waikato by government forces and the military defeat of the Kingites, they retreated south of the Puniu Stream and established themselves in an area of rugged, dissected hill country, with heavy rainfall, where it was difficult for the Government forces to follow. The King movement established a government in exile - tantamount to an independent state, with its own king, a parliament, a legislature, a police force, and its own newspaper (the printing press was taken from Te Awamutu, after being abandoned by the missionaries who had been warned by their pupils in late 1862 that war was being planned). The Kingites made it clear they would defend their territory, if need be, and to this end constructed 3 gunfighter pa at Haurua,Te Roto-Marama and Paratui in the hills to the south of the confiscation line. In 1870 and 1873 there were a series of murders of settlers both inside and outside the King Country that put the militia on the alert, however these were isolated incidents of utu, not full scale war.In 1880 the last murder of a settler William Moffat took place at Matapuna flat.He had lived with Maori for many years even made gunpowder for them during the Land Wars but was killed as he was believed to be a government land buying agent.The NZ government could not prosecute the case as they had no real jurisdiction in the face of Kingite hostility. Over time friction grew between the conservative, religious Kingitanga royalty and their Ngati Maniapoto hosts, to the extent that the king considered going south to Taranaki. The King country, a huge area - the size of Belgium, was a no go area for Pakeha for 20 years until poverty and economic isolation (this area today is still largely covered in heavy bush - attempts by farmers to farm the area in the 1920s were abandoned along with the famous "Bridge to Nowhere" that can only be reached by tramping for several hours) and feeling the pressure from his hosts, forced the second Maori King to seek an agreement with the government who had been putting out peace feelers. The king travelled to Raglan to test the waters and was surprised by his warm welcome - the settlers putting on a fete and a dance to welcome him. Seeing Maori and Pakeha working together peacefully at Raglan seems to have altered his thinking. The agreement was signed in Hamilton amidst great feasting. This led to the 1887 agreement whereby the government would employ Kingites to clear the land for the main trunk railway line being constructed between Auckland and Wellington. In return the government agreed to set aside 4 seats in parliament for Maori MP's only. Large areas of King Country land were sold to the government for the railway,towns and farms showing that the government had broken the power of the kingities.Rewi Maniapoto the war leader insisted on the government making the King Country free from the sale of alcohol as he was concerned at the influence of drunken Maori.The government agreed and King Country stayed "dry" for many years.