The Ōhāua Te Rangi hapū Cluster and the Apitihana

Abstract

This chapter returns to the Ōhāua te Rangi blocks north of Ruatāhuna, some of the leaders of which were involved in the Crown’s effort to weaken the Apitihana, as discussed in the previous chapter. Ngāti Rongo, the hapū that dominated the four Ōhāua te Rangi blocks in 1903, confronted Te Urewera hapū and its allies and by 1913 gained control of the Kahuwi portion of Manawarū. By 1923, Manawarū and these two hapū nevertheless became the stronghold of the Apitihana resistance against the UCS. What was the effect of the confrontation between the Crown and the Apitihana movement on Ngāti Rongo and the hapū cluster controlling these nearby Ōhāua te Rangi blocks? After reviewing the organization of this hapū cluster as it was described in Volume I, the proposed and final relocations of consolidated shares by its leaders and their allies is examined. A higher proportion of shares in the four blocks had been lost to the Crown purchasing campaign, and the leadership, alliances with adjacent hapū, and final dispersion of the remaining consolidated shares suggests that stresses of the UCS may have adversely effected the solidarity of the Ōhāua te Rangi hapū cluster. Nevertheless, the same alliance between Ngāti Rongo and Te Urewera hapū in Manawarū was successful in closing their ranks against the UCS, and the commissioners finally relented by allowing them to retain most of the area of Ruatāhuna and Tarapounamu they continued to control.