I l l
At the sa.je tin* that Gudgeon was inking proposals for future
le g isla tio n , he had given «mch thought to ways of implementing his policies in ier;;& of what be knew of Aiaori society. His analysis was concerned with those aspects which he considered inimical to economic develops**)t in
order to find out by what eans and to what extent a restructuring of attitu d e s was possible. He recognized that i t would not be easy to
fo r;« la te policies that would both meet with the approval of the 'N atives' and rea lise the trade )>otential anticipated by New Zealand. There were inherent d iffic u ltie s in dealing with
. . . the Polynesian who is at a ll t i e s described by his friends as lazy, sensual and thievish. The situation is therefore serious, for we can say with authority that they w ill not help us to improve s e tte r s , we may even have to
force them to help themselves.
Moreover, the Maori lacked knowledge of the law of supply and demand and had become resentful of trad ers. Gudgeon biased the IMS for i t s failu re to encourage the planting of greater quantities of the staple crops and for neglecting to in s t il work habits which would have given the people
'continuous prosperity*. Had there been any aeciber of the Mission with the a b ility and foresight of Shirley Baker of Tonga, things would have been d iffe re n t; as i t was, the missionaries had been content, in his opinion,
to require only that the people sing 'th e req u isite number of hysans and pay th e ir subscriptions with reg u larity and despatch'.
Gudgeon held the IMS responsible not only for the tyrannous for* of government that had resulted fro« the union of church and s ta te , but for
sup orting 'land-grabbing* chiefs and for placing the welfare of the Mission above that of the people. He f e lt also that Moss's struggle with the Mission, and his attempts to replace the rule of persons by the rule of law, had not been se ttle d decisively. Until the Mission's 'hunger for power' and i t s influence over the chiefs were broken, i t s malign and fu rtiv e influence would p ersist to the detriment of his own reforms.1.
16 Gudgeon, 'Autobiography*, p.39, entry for July 1902.
17 ib id ., p.40. The most forthright of his attacks on the UK> is
contained in GP, 662/E, 662/F. In many respects Gudgeon oversimplified the IMS role and i t s hold over the chiefs. He underestimated i t s
e ffo rts to achieve some of the aims he bad set himself. See Append!u
B for a b rief account of Gudgeon's attitu d e s to the 'missionary kingdom*, together with an outline of soiae of the ilssio n 's problems.
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The Resident Commissioner thus assigned three causes for the ‘ want o f energy and prudence* o f the people? the in s e c u rity o f th e ir t i t l e to
land« t h e ir r a c ia l indolence, and the depressing nature o f the govern o -t -
p a rtly feudal and p a rtly re lig io u s - under which they bad liv e d fo r the past seventy years.
Gudgeon's problem was to make each } rodueer a SKiall c a p it a li s t . I f the Maori could he induced to work fo r six ontbs each year instead o f th re e , th is would bring him wealth aad also s a tis fy those Europeans who complained th a t they could be doing more business. At the satt» t i r o he admitted th a t i t would be u n re a lis tic to ignore the Maori j*>ii»t o f view a lto g eth er fo r , as he said , ' I cannot help seeing th a t the Natives hold th e ir own views on p o lit ic a l economy and th at th e ir views d i f f e r from ours*.
Gudgeon also appreciated the strength o f Maori adherence to t h e ir own values as against European notions o f ju s tic e and a d m in is tra tiv e e ffic ie n c y . In the m atter o f ju s t ic e , fo r example, though be o v e rs im p lifie d , he recognized
A c h ie f or indeed any man placed in a u th o rity can by no u^ans understand why he should be punished fo r small peculations, lie thinks th at the fact o f his being placed in a po sition to
oeculate is s u ffic ie n t excuse fo r so doing, and th is is a view th a t is taken by a l l the aronga taana o f hangaia, who have for years robbed the fe d e ra l Government by appropriating the fees and fin es o f the C ourts. What however can be expected from a people whose m issionaries have p a rtic ip a te d in the fin es In f lic t e d by the Courts - fo r the sost psrt on a d u lte re rs .1 ;
10 'Autobiography*, p .40. Though Gudgeon had conceded that the Polynesian
was not a lazy man when he saw the necessity fo r work, he did not examine worn o f the reasons why the islanders might not have worked as hard as they used to do before disease had deci:aated the ■opulation. decent in ve s tig atio n s have revealed terraces on the h ills id e s o f
Rarotonga and have shown th a t, to support a population anywhere near John W illiam 's estim ate, hard and continuous labour would have been req u ired . N either did Gudgeon examine the economies o f a h ie ra rc h ic a l so ciety th at required an a g r ic u ltu ra l surplus fo r p o lit i c a l purposes, aee, fo r e x a ^ le , Marshall 0. Sahli ns, 'Poor Man, Big Man, C h ief; P o lit ic a l types is Melanesia and P o lyn esia', in Asdrew P. Vayda (e d .) , . eo les and Cultures o f the P a c ific . New York, 1 % 8, pp. 170-5.
19 'Autobiography!, p .4 1 . Though he ignored the tension between lo c a l and c e n tra l a u th o rity that la y behind the Mangaiao a c tio n , elsewhere Gudgeon showed th a t he was aware that ju s t ic e was tuerely another facet o f the a u th o rity s tru ctu re influenced by k in sh ip , status and p o lit ic a l considerations. Fißes had not u su ally been shared w ith the m issionaries.
1X3 ~
it m s one thing to appreciate these views and quite soother to induce the islanders to modify th eir h ab its. The Coemssioner had conclude«? that
*ioree* »night have to be used; but he was aware also that 'B ell and the Parliament ol Hen Zealand* were fu ll o f 'benevoietn and interfering id iots* vfee sould object to coercion of the waori 'even for his ovn good*. The answer seecwd to l i e in ^aori so ciety i t s e l f . la the « a fter of coercion.
Gudgeon regarded the Maori as more reasonable than Euro;>ems in that he was lik e ly to suspe&d judgement to see how things turned o u t.20
ihe so cia l system obviously provided leeway for m nip ulatlon. for a ll
h is str ictu r es against the old ’missionary' fori?? o f government, Gudgeon recognized that a large pereeatage o f the present generation preferred that
system to European ru le. He therefore believed that firm and evea harsh authority could be tolerated and instanced the tyrannies erpetmated on Aitutaki by the Eev. Henry Hoyle, who had concentrated in his person the power o f the mIM. *bose individual rule he had broken. It was food for
thought th a t, even so. Gudgeon had never heard the?, speak other than
resp ectfu lly of Boyle and his methods. Moreover , production in A itutaki, be noted, contrasted sharply with the situ a tio n in Barotonga.21
Gudgeon's thinking i» 1902 werely confirmed his previous conclusion that the ajjJO. were a barrier to refone, and that d rastic changes in the authority structure were necessary to loosen the c h ie fly stranglehold over iand* f3e *as * « tisfie d that his prestige was such that he could zmni m la te
uml coerce the c h ie fs . ifemaging use could be made o f the co n flictin g
i *tcrests 01 the mIKL th eir people who, in h is opinion, stood to
b e ü e tii f r m a declin e in c h iefly authority. A fa ir degree of coercion
was seeded and would be tolerated where the people trusted th eir ’ Papa' aid were assured o f substantial material b e n e fits.
aith oi th is reflected e a r lie r New Zealand experience. I t was Gudgeon's task to persuade the Minister and Parliament to revert to fron tier attitu d es and Is d p o lic ie s which, in the r e la tiv e euphoria following the 1900
le g is la tio n , Ii«d te o ra rily become an embarrassment. But Gudgeon had been given tenure as a resu lt o f Seddon's confidence in his a b ility to f u l f i l the glowing predictions ciade for the isla n d s. The Premier was coouitted to implmmtut Gudgeon*$ further reeo- sjen da lio n s .
i o id ., p.10. 'He would say his Papa knows the Maoris and unless we are cade to do these things they w ill never be accomplished*.
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I t had beco ;e obvious, however, that the basis lor a ®re enduring le g is la t iv e framework for the islands could sot be devised before the t e o r a r y IvOl le g is la tio n ceased to be e f ie c t iv e . The B ill brought down in 1902 therefore provided that the 1901 Act should continue in force for a further two years. I t also validated the ordinances assented to by the Governor, and eur?owered hi.?, through Orders-ie-Ceueci 1, not only to
extend New Zealand le g is la tio n to the Cook Islan ds, but a lso to (sake such 22
* jocliii cat ions as were considered appropriate. One o f the m ax extra ordinary features of th is and other debates on the Cook Islands - apart fro© scanty attendance - was the consistency o f the Go vermint, * s fa ilu re to provide information which might have enabled s o b e r s to deal with the
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abject more e f f ic ie n t ly . Berries was probably right when he said that la r lia ent knew m r e about the Cooks before annexation than afterwards,
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