IWI / HAPU AFFILIATIONS
No te ao te hua-ra-tanga
Riro ki te po
What tender thoughts of thee arise;
My chieftain vanished in the night.1
So began the waiata-tangi chanted at the funeral in 1926
of Sir James Carroll, famed orator and well-respected
politician.
Sir James Carroll was born in Wairoa in the Northern Hawkes
Bay. Known to Māori as Timi Kara, his father was an
Australian immigrant of Irish descent, Joseph Carroll, and his
mother, Tapuke, a 'woman of mana'2 of the Ngāti Kahungungu iwi. James
Carroll married Heni Materoa (Te Huinga) in 1881 and the couple
settled in Gisborne.
Carroll began his working life as a junior in the Government's
Native Department. After a visit to the East Coast with Sir
Donald McLean, Minister for Native Affairs, the young Carroll's
ability was noted and he was offered a position in
Wellington.3 Between 1879 and
1883, Carroll was an interpreter for the House of Representatives
and this association contributed to his life-long interest in
politics. He gained the Eastern Māori seat in 1887 on the
platform of control of Māori land by Māori. In particular, he
advocated leasing rather than selling, as a way to secure a stable
income for iwi. Over the course of his holding the general
(European) seat of Waiapu from 1893 until 1919, he was twice Acting
Prime Minister and held the Native Affairs portfolio for 13
years.
During his term as Minister for Native Affairs, he was
instrumental in the drafting of legislation that led to Māori being
able to deal directly in their own land affairs through the
formation of Māori Land Councils.
The many photographs of James Carroll that exist in the
Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington show him to be a man who
travelled widely in New Zealand, carrying out his political duties
and enjoying the company of others in less formal settings.
Carroll stood for compromise and was well noted for his skills
as a persuasive speaker. He opposed aspects of Te
Kotahitanga, Māori self-government, for practical reasons and
because his aim was 'essentially … empowering Māori within modern
economic life and securing their equality with Pākehā'.4
CM
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