The Maori king movement; Unity and diversity in past and present

Abstract

[...]to hold the mana or prestige over the land; secondly, mana over man; thirdly, to stop the flow of blood (intertribal wars); fourthly, the Maori King and the Queen of England to be joined in concord and God to be above them both (Jones 1959: 196, 223). [...]the main cause of the paramount Waikato chief soon became identified with the aims and objectives of the Maori King Movement. In the most fertile valley of the Waikato River, which had been required for European settlement, only a few 'native reserves' had been set aside. [...]most of the Crown grants were made to 'loyalist natives'; for the core of the King Movement's followers, this was 'the second lie', the first lie being the pretext of rebellion for the confiscations. Nowadays it is the administrative council of the Maori Queen's confederation that is responsible for the political aims (a satisfactory settlement of the land confiscations) of the tribal core of the Maori King Movement, which, in turn, has enabled the Queen to focus on cultural instead of political aspects of the movement. [...]the present success of the Maori King Movement must be viewed in the light of its main weakness: the inability to transcend the tribal affiliation of the monarch.