Dog Tax War - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Dog Tax war is described by some authors as the last gasp of the 19th century wars between the Māori and the Pākehā

Pakeha

Pākehā is a Māori language word for New Zealanders who are "of European descent". They are mostly descended from British and to a lesser extent Irish settlers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, although some Pākehā have Dutch, Scandinavian, German, Yugoslav or other ancestry...

, the British settlers of New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

. This is not altogether accurate in two respects. It was a very minor affair, certainly not a war. Also there were later, more serious incidents, notably in the Urewera Ranges, that can be attributed to the imposition of Pākehā authority on the Māori.

In the 1890s the Hokianga

Hokianga

Hokianga is an area surrounding the Hokianga Harbour, also known as The Hokianga River, a long estuarine drowned valley on the west coast in the north of the North Island of New Zealand....

County Council imposed a tax of 2/6d (half crown

Half crown (British coin)

The half crown was a denomination of British money worth half of a crown, equivalent to two and a half shillings , or one-eighth of a pound. The half crown was first issued in 1549, in the reign of Edward VI...

) on each dog in the district. Many people, particularly in the South Hokianga, refused to pay, one of which was Hone Riiwi Toia.
It was the encroachment of British colonial laws over Māori autonomy, that instigated an armed protest, the response to which became known as 'The Dog Tax War'.

The actual story is more complicated. Hone Toia was the leader/prophet of a breakaway group of Wesleyans called Te Huihuinga or Te Huihui. Te Huihuinga was also a political movement and considered themselves as having seceded to 'Te Kotahitanga' (an autonomous Māori parliament movement founded upon 'Te Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tïreni' 1835 (Declaration of Independence)). Other grievances held by this group included seasonal restrictions on the hunting of native birds, the land tax (on land held under Crown grant within five miles of a public road), the wheel tax (on vehicles with certain tyre widths).

It was during a Te Huihui meeting that Hone Toia prophesied that "if dogs were to be taxed, men would be next".

Hone had met with Te Whiti-o-Rongomai the leader of the Pai Marire

Pai Marire

The Pai Mārire movement was a syncretic Māori religion that flourished in New Zealand from about 1863 to 1874. Founded in Taranaki by the prophet Te Ua Haumene, it incorporated Biblical and Māori spiritual elements and promised its followers deliverance from Pākehā domination, providing a...

(good and peaceful) movement, Te Huihuinga adopted aspects of this movement which sought to retain their right to live as Māori without interference, and to make use of their traditional resources as guaranteed by the Treaty of Waitangi

Treaty of Waitangi

The Treaty of Waitangi is a treaty first signed on 6 February 1840 by representatives of the British Crown and various Māori chiefs from the North Island of New Zealand....

.

Europeans regarded Hone Toia as an imposter, other associated him with the Hau Hau movement. This was a vehemently anti-Pākehā cult that had developed in the 1860s and spread throughout the North Island

North Island

The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The island is in area, making it the world's 14th-largest island...

, and had been heavily involved in the later major conflicts, the Second Taranaki War

Second Taranaki War

-Background and causes of the war:The conflict in Taranaki had its roots in the First Taranaki War, which had ended in March 1861 with an uneasy truce. Neither side fulfilled the terms of the truce, leaving many of the issues unresolved...

and others subsequently.

The Māori around Taheke, Omanaia

Omanaia

Omanaia is a settlement in the Hokianga area of Northland, New Zealand.In the 1830s, the Omanaia Maori chief Papahurihia led a nationalist movement to oppose the spread of Christianity through the Hokianga.-Education:...

and Waima

Waima, Northland

Waima is a community in the south Hokianga area of Northland, New Zealand. State Highway 12 runs through the area. The Waima River flows through the Waima Valley into the Hokianga Harbour. Rawene is to the north west, and Kaikohe is to the north east....

, mainly the Te Mahurehure people, had been accumulating a store of firearms and ammunition, the main source of these supplies seemed to be Hone Toia's trading store at the Hauturu gum-fields between Waima and Kaikohe. Firearms like dogs were a common necessity for hunting and farming around Hokianga. Around this time, Firearms were still utilised by some tribal leaders for protection and enforcement (Ringa Kaha) over their lands or wahi tapu (restricted areas).

In June 1897, Henry Menzies

Henry Menzies

Henry Fisher Menzies was a Scottish rugby player.Henry played 4 times for . His debut was on February 4, 1893 against Wales.-External links:*...

was put in charge of dog registrations by the Hokianga County Council, for which he received only the commission of one shilling for each dog collar sold. In 1898 he served 40 summons at Pukemiro pa (Hone Toia's village in Hauturu), where Menzies was rumoured to have said, that if the people refused to pay they would be sent to an ice bound country where their bones would crack from the cold, (probably referring to the prisons of the lower south island).

This suitably terrified the people of Te Huihuinga, some choosing to sleep in the bush out of fear of being arrested. Hone Toia intervened successfully achieving an adjournment to the summons, he then set up a meeting at Pukemiro on 28 April, inviting Seon, Constable Alexander McGilp, Menzies and others.

Returning to the Hokianga, on 28 April 1898, Seon, Constable Alexander McGilp, Menzies and others attended the meeting. There they found one hundred and fifty men led by Hone Toia. Romana te Paehangi an elder and relative of Hone stated that they would not pay any taxes and that 'they would die on account of these taxes'. Hone Toia confirmed that they would rather resist than be driven further into poverty and hardship.

At Pukemiro they also announced their intention to come to Rawene

Rawene

Rawene is a town on the south side of the Hokianga harbour, in Northland, New Zealand. State Highway 12 passes to the south. The town lies at the apex of a peninsula...

(the administrative centre of the area) with their guns to continue their dispute with the County Council. They also gave assurances that no women or children or settlers would be hurt and that there would be no bloodshed unless they came in contact with the law. A telegraph was composed at the meeting and sent to Clendon

Clendon

Clendon is a suburb of Auckland city in northern New Zealand. It is located to the west of Manurewa. The suburb is in the Manurewa-Papakura ward, one of the thirteen administrative divisions of Auckland City....

in Hone Toia's name, however the message received was understood to mean that war would be waged because of the dog tax and that blood would be shed.

In Rawene panic ensued, many people withdrew to neibouring Kohukohu

Kohukohu, New Zealand

Kohukohu is an historic village on the Hokianga Harbour in the far north of the North Island. It was one of the first European settlements in New Zealand....

or aboard the steamer 'Glenburg'.

A police inspector and five constables arrived by boat from Auckland

Auckland

The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...

and set up a cannon on the wharf. The party of less than 20 including Hone Toia and led by Romana Te Paehangi duly appeared, stripped for war, ready to present themselves to the law. The outnumbered police sensibly fled leaving their cannon behind. Rawene was deserted apart from a few neutral Māori and a handful of Pākehā including Rev. Gittos, and Contractor Robert Cochrane.
Cochrane described the war party as quiet, expressing friendship to all but the law and as stating that they would not fire first. Gittos and Cochrane eventually persuaded them to return to Waima later that evening.

Descendants of the men involved described how Bob Cochrane ran the local hotel. Despite it being a Sunday and therefore illegal, he agreed to open the bar and served the visiting war party with beer. This gesture of goodwill went a long way to defusing the situation.

Some four days later the government had assembled a force of 120 men armed with rifles, two field guns and two rapid fire guns landed in Rawene. The force under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Newall and was later reinforced by the British warship 'Torch'.

On the 5th of May 1898, the government forces marched on Waima, Hone Toia sent a message requesting Newall wait at Omanaia

Omanaia

, Newall refused. An ambush was feared at the crest of the hill between Waima and Rawene, after two shots were fired over the heads of the colonial troops. However the soldiers were allowed to pass unmolested and carried on to set up camp at Waima School. Toia and his men being camped some distance away.

The potential was there for serious conflict. However the situation was defused by the timely arrival of the Member of the House of Representative (MHR) for Northern Māori, Hone Heke Ngapua

Hone Heke Ngapua

Hone Heke Ngapuha was a Māori and Liberal Party Member of Parliament in New Zealand. He was born in Kaikohe, and was named after his great-uncle Hone Heke....

. He was the grand-nephew of the original Hone Heke

Hone Heke

Hone Wiremu Heke Pokai was a Māori rangatira and war leader in Northern New Zealand and a nephew of Hongi Hika, an earlier war leader of the Ngāpuhi iwi. Hone Heke is considered the principal instigator of the Flagstaff War....

. He met with Hone Toia and negotiated a truce and the surrender of Hone, his people and some of their guns.
Hone Toia was arrested on the 6th of May with four others, 11 more were arrested later.

Hone Heke Ngapua had previously sent a telegraph to Hone Toia, advising him to disband his people, withdraw peacefully and to petition parliament, this was seen as a wise move by Heke considering such acts as the 1863 Suppression of Rebellion Act which suspended habeas corpus

Habeas corpus

is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...

and introduced martial law

Martial law

Martial law is the imposition of military rule by military authorities over designated regions on an emergency basis— only temporary—when the civilian government or civilian authorities fail to function effectively , when there are extensive riots and protests, or when the disobedience of the law...

into disturbed districts and the New Zealand Settlements Act which provided for the punitive confiscation of 'rebel natives' land.

Charged with 'Intending by conspiring to levy war against the Queen in order to force her to change her measures, and conspiring by force to prevent collection of taxes.' Hone and four others were sentenced for a total of two and a half years of hard labour. Others were subsequently fined and heavy costs imposed but these were later remitted.

Hone Toia near the end of his sentence in Mount Eden prison, prophesied the date of the Huihuinga prisoners release, as the predicted day wore on his powers appeared to have left him, but later that night at 9pm, it was announced and the prisoners released. Te Huihuinga were released short of their full sentence, on the 15th March 1899, this was probably due to the petitions of numerous Iwi

Iwi

In New Zealand society, iwi form the largest everyday social units in Māori culture. The word iwi means "'peoples' or 'nations'. In "the work of European writers which treat iwi and hapū as parts of a hierarchical structure", it has been used to mean "tribe" , or confederation of tribes,...

(tribes) of the Hokianga and far north.

These events are still remembered to this day, the dog tax in the Hokianga remains, yet is still somewhat neglected, up to this very day.

Later Hone's prophecy that "if dogs were to be taxed, men would be next" also came to be realised.

Further reading