Parihaka - West Coast Commission

West Coast Commission

In December 1879 the Government had announced plans for a commission of inquiry, to be conducted by three government appointees and known as the West Coast Commission, which would examine grievances over West Coast land confiscations and allegations of broken promises. The Government had appointed former premier Sir William Fox as its chairman, as well as pastoralist and former cabinet minister Sir Francis Dillon Bell and Tawhai, who resigned before hearings began. Tawhai claimed his fellow commissioners were not impartial and had been the "very men who had created the trouble on the West Coast" (Fox and Bell had both been Native Minister), but he may also have been stung by Te Whiti's description of the commission as "two pākehā and a dog". Fox and Bell had been both closely involved with the New Zealand Company, both owned vast areas of land and supported confiscation.

Hearings began at Oeo, South Taranaki, in February 1880, but were immediately boycotted by Te Whiti's followers when the commission declined an invitation to travel to Parihaka to hold discussions. Historian Dick Scott has claimed Fox, who had already expressed in writing his wish that the Waimate Plains be sold and settled, was appointed chairman of the commission on the proviso that he support the government's land policies in the area and secure central Taranaki for white settlement. Correspondence to Premier John Hall shows that Fox thought it futile to give a hearing to "every Native who thinks he has a grievance" and was keen to ensure commission hearings did not delay road-building works in the Waimate Plains that could be carried out in summer.

In the meantime, however, Fox insisted that no survey of land around Parihaka take place until the commission had made a report. Bryce agreed that central Taranaki would not be entered, apart from the completion of necessary road repairs. In April, however, he directed that 550 armed soldiers – mostly unemployed men newly recruited with the promise of free land – would begin "repairing" a new road that would lead directly to Parihaka. His force marched from Oeo to set up camp near Parihaka. A stockade and camp were established at Rahotu, a redoubt and blockhouse at Pungarehu and an armed camp at Waikino to the north. The land around Parihaka began to be surveyed and work began, from both northern and southern approaches, on a coast road between New Plymouth and Hawera. Apart from offering food to the soldiers, Māori continued their daily life as if the surveyors did not exist. In its 1996 report on Taranaki land confiscations, the Waitangi Tribunal noted that Bryce was a Taranaki war veteran who "clearly retained his relish of warfare ... on his own admission, he had always desired a march on Parihaka in order to destroy it." The tribunal claimed his later actions were "so provocative that, in our view, he was also endeavouring to recreate hostilities."

In an interim report released in April, Fox and Bell acknowledged the puzzle of why the land had been confiscated when its owners had never taken up arms against the government, but recommended all the open country in the Parihaka block – 15,000 acres (61 km2) along the coast – be taken by the government. The commission expressed confidence that Māori would agree to settlement if adequate reserves were made, despite never having spoken to leading Māori in the area to gain their view.