1892 Establishment of Māori Parliaments

Frustrated at the lack of success in securing a remedy for their grievances, Māori in different parts of the country convened large meetings, which were called parliaments. Following meetings at Waitangi and Orakei, a Māori congress or parliament (called "Kotahitanga": unity) met for the first time at Waipawa in Hawkes Bay. This Kotahitanga then moved to several other locations and developed a more permanent base at Pāpāwai, Greytown. The King movement's own parliament was called Kauhanganui. Both aimed to unify Māori, but neither wholly succeeded. Māori MPs such as Wi Pere and Hone Heke Ngapua drafted bills and introduced them to Parliament in Wellington, seeking recognition of the Kotahitanga. They were not successful, but in 1900 Carroll and Ngata persuaded the Liberal government of Richard Seddon to set up a system of regional and local Māori councils. The councils had some success in dealing with matters such as health and alcohol sales and in slowing the sale of land. But from 1905 their powers began to be weakened again when the Reform government, which took office in 1911, resumed a vigorous programme of land purchase. The Kotahitanga faded rapidly after the turn of the century.