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Ngata, Paratene

1849?–1924

Ngāti Porou leader, storekeeper, soldier, farmer, assessor

This biography, written by Steven Oliver, was first published in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography in 1990. It was translated into te reo Māori by the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography team.

Paratene Ngata was born at Ahikouka, near Waiomatatini, on the East Coast, possibly in September 1849. His father was Wiremu Karaka Te Ito, of Reporua, and his mother was Hera Te Ihi, known also as Ruataupare. He was related to Te Whānau-a-Te-Ao, Ngāti Rangi and Te Whānau-a-Karuai hapū of Ngāti Porou. Paratene Ngata grew up in the household of Rāpata Wahawaha, whose wife, Hārata Te Ihi, was his mother's younger sister. He married Kāterina Naki and they had two children; the elder, and most famous, child of the marriage was Apirana Ngata. Apirana was not, however, Paratene's first child. This was Hōne Te Ihi Ngata, whose mother was Hārata Pōkiha.

As a child Paratene attended William Williams's mission school at Waerenga-a-hika, near Tūranga (Gisborne), which was closed in 1865, as the Pai Mārire movement gained strength. Paratene accompanied Rapata during the East Coast wars and saw action against Hauhau forces. In June 1869 he was recruited into the Armed Constabulary No 9 division (Ngāti Porou), and, with Te Hatiwira Te Houkamau and Peneamine Tūhaka, led a company of Ngāti Porou soldiers to Taranaki for the campaign against Tītokowaru. The company was taken by steamer to Wanganui and marched from there to Pātea. However, fighting had ceased before their arrival and there were no further operations against Tītokowaru. It is probable that this Ngāti Porou contingent returned to the East Coast and took part in the campaigns against Te Kooti.

After the wars Paratene kept a store (with accommodation for Europeans) at Te Kawakawa (Te Araroa), and a hotel at Waipiro Bay, and supervised the Waiomatatini sheep station, established by Rāpata. Ngāti Porou had learned sheep farming while working for European farmers, and used their wages and rents from leased lands to establish their own co-operative sheep stations. Between 1886 and 1891 the number of sheep owned by Māori on the East Coast grew rapidly.

Paratene also worked as an assessor on the Native Land Court, in the King Country and at Taupō; he was involved in the investigation of the Rohe Pōtae block of 1,636,000 acres, which had some 4,500 Māori owners. It was surveyed and awarded to individual owners by the court. This was done against the strenuous opposition of the King movement, which did not want the land removed from the King's mana by coming under Pākehā law. Individual title was also against the wishes of Ngāti Maniapoto, who wanted the land awarded to the claimant tribes and hapū, to preserve tribal society and prevent individual land sales. But the court had no power to do this and after much delay the names of the individual claimants were sent to the court for adjudication and registration. The proceedings of the court were quiet and orderly, owing to the respect in which Paratene Ngata and the judge, William Mair, were held. In addition, agreement was gained through the court for the railway line to pass through the block, and 635 acres were set aside for it. As the King's supporters had previously been able to prevent the progress of roads and railways, it was clear that the movement's influence was waning. At various times after 1870 Paratene also took part in title investigations of large blocks of Māori land in the Thames, Hawke's Bay, Wairarapa and East Coast districts.

In 1891 Paratene Ngata gave evidence to the parliamentary commission appointed to inquire into native land laws. He said that when land with many owners was granted to 10 trustees, in accordance with the Native Lands Act 1873, a government officer should be appointed to ensure that rents and proceeds from land sales were fairly distributed. He thought that for each block a committee should be set up and empowered by Parliament to carry out all transactions and to reserve land for the Māori to farm themselves. He favoured government loans to Māori farmers to improve their land, and he argued that this would be for the general prosperity of the country. He criticised the land court as too expensive and said its sittings should be held in the vicinity of the land which was being adjudicated; Māori people suffered great hardship when forced to leave their homes and reside in the midst of Europeans in order to attend the court.

In his proposed reforms Paratene Ngata was supporting the movement for Māori self-rule; committees were already providing local government and law enforcement in Māori areas, but they had no legal authority. Like other Māori leaders of the time, such as Paora Tuhaere of Ngāti Whatua and Horonuku Te Heuheu Tūkino IV of Ngāti Tuwharetoa, Paratene wanted Māori committees to have the power to adjudicate land ownership, and the legal authority to try minor cases and enforce school attendance. The informal powers of existing committees, based on respect for chiefs and elders, were declining as land became individualised. Paratene argued that if the committees could not be given legal standing, then native assessors should be given the power to decide cases of land title where no difficulties were involved and where they had no interest themselves. Only major cases, or ones with difficulties, should go to the expensive and time-consuming Native Land Court.

Paratene Ngata unsuccessfully contested the 1894 election for Eastern Māori against Wī Pere, a leader of Rongowhakaata and Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki. From 1904 he lived permanently at his home at Waiomatatini, and took a prominent part in promoting schemes for the incorporation of Ngāti Porou land to provide better organisation and financial assistance for farming. He was chairman of the Horouta Māori Council and of the Waiomatatini School Committee. He worked for the improvement of marae and was an expert on the traditions of his people. He was a keen educationalist, although he criticised Te Aute College graduates for being absorbed into the commercial life of Gisborne and not giving leadership to the rural communities.

Like most of the leading men of Ngāti Porou, Paratene adhered to the Anglican church. It is said, however, that he and his wife, Katerina, made use of traditional rituals in order to conceive their first child, Apirana. Paratene was unsympathetic to other religious groups, especially the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. When Mormon missionaries first arrived in the Waiapu district, they were thrown into the river. Nevertheless they were able to open a place of worship at Tikitiki in 1891. Paratene also convened a meeting to discuss whether people of the Ringatū faith should be allowed to hold services in the district.

Throughout his long life Paratene Ngata was leader of his people. He fostered their survival by encouraging economic, political and educational development. This spirit he inherited from leaders such as Rāpata Wahawaha, and transmitted it to his son Apirana, who was to lead Ngāti Porou in the first half of the twentieth century. Paratene died on 15 December 1924, and is buried in the family cemetery on Pūputa hill at Waiomatatini.

How to cite this page:

Steven Oliver. 'Ngata, Paratene', Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, first published in 1990. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/1n7/ngata-paratene (accessed 29 March 2024)