Tawhai Hone Mohi 1880 1894

edmondsallan - hello - their is a little bit more on this maori leader & " Cussie ", which will assist us to know him better Although he had little formal education, Tawhai was naturally talented and made a strong contribution to parliamentary debates on a wide range of issues. He was independent-minded and claimed the right to vote as he pleased. He was particularly critical of the government's borrowing from Britain to pay for a war he regarded as aimed at destroying the people at Waitara. He opposed the introduction of legislation designed to alienate Maori land, believing that the proceeds of land sales would be used to help defray interest on the loans. He also criticised the expenditure of more than £20 million borrowed for public works in the 1860s and 1870s, objecting to the imposition of a property tax on his constituents to pay for the loans when none of the money had benefited the north. He claimed that other districts received benefits in the form of railways and public works but Hokianga had received nothing. He warned that if the government persisted in taxing Maori land it would need an army of 24,000 to enforce the taxes. Tawhai voted against the Crown and Native Lands Rating Bill 1880 on the grounds that taxing Maori land was another step towards its alienation.In 1881 and 1882 Tawhai and Henare Tomoana were responsible for the Native Committees Empowering Bill; it provided for committees which would replace the Native Land Court and determine titles more rapidly and honestly. Suggestions were also made in the debate on the Representation Bill that the Maori seats should be abolished, Tawhai defended them. He argued that the right to representation emanated from Queen Victoria through the Treaty of Waitangi; if members could show him an act or law which had abolished the treaty, then he would say no more.. In May 1890, he chaired a meeting of the Northland tribes at Omanaia, a place that was spiritually significant to the followers of the mystic Aperahama Taonui, who had been prominent in the treaty movement of the early 1880s. This meeting established an organisational structure that culminated in the formation of the first Maori parliament at Waitangi in April 1892. When there was conflict in the north in the 1890s over the controversial dog tax, Tawhai continued to urge moderation and adherence to the rule of law, advising his people that the proper course was to petition Parliament to change the law.Tawhai had reservations about the writing of Maori history by Pakeha. Nevertheless, he corresponded with the ethnographer Stephenson Percy Smith, supplying him with information on Maori origins in Rangiatea, the Hawaiki origin of the names Waima-Tuhirangi and Moehau, the ancestral canoe Omamari, the descent lines of Nga Puhi from Tumutumuwhenua and Nukutawhiti, and Hongi Hika. Tawhai also intended to write the history of Hongi Hika, but the protracted illnesses which ended his life prevented him from undertaking this work.

Hone Mohi Tawhai died on 31 July 1894. He and his wife, Makere Maraea, had at least two children: Hone Takerei Tawhai and Kereama Tawhai. Kereama died in 1885 at Tawhai had reservations about the writing of Maori history by Pakeha. Nevertheless, he corresponded with the ethnographer Stephenson Percy Smith, supplying him with information on Maori origins in Rangiatea, the Hawaiki origin of the names Waima-Tuhirangi and Moehau, the ancestral canoe Omamari, the descent lines of Nga Puhi from Tumutumuwhenua and Nukutawhiti, and Hongi Hika. Tawhai also intended to write the history of Hongi Hika, but the protracted illnesses which ended his life prevented him from undertaking this work.

Hone Mohi Tawhai died on 31 July 1894. He and his wife, Makere Maraea, had at least two children: Hone Takerei Tawhai and Kereama Tawhai. Kereama died in 1885 at Tawhai had reservations about the writing of Maori history by Pakeha. Nevertheless, he corresponded with the ethnographer Stephenson Percy Smith, supplying him with information on Maori origins in Rangiatea, the Hawaiki origin of the names Waima-Tuhirangi and Moehau, the ancestral canoe Omamari, the descent lines of Nga Puhi from Tumutumuwhenua and Nukutawhiti, and Hongi Hika. Tawhai also intended to write the history of Hongi Hika, but the protracted illnesses which ended his life prevented him from undertaking this work. Hone Mohi Tawhai died on 31 July 1894. He and his wife, Makere Maraea, had at least two children: Hone Takerei Tawhai and Kereama Tawhai. Kereama died in 1885 at the age of 21, while studying law with the Auckland firm of Whitaker and Russell.
Yes readers , we also have our sad moments to . such is life . Till we meet again -Regards - edmondsallan