One of the most disturbing episodes in New Zealand history took place in November 1881 when a force of the Armed Constabulary marched on the settlement of Parihaka in Taranaki, arrested its leaders Te-Whiti-o-Rongomai and Tohu Kakahi, and drove away hundreds of people who had gathered there under their protection.
Who the Herald would have chosen as New Zealander of the Year then would be quite different from who the paper chooses today. For some years Te Whiti had been leading a campaign of peaceful resistance to Pakeha encroachments on the land. Although he preached peace the settler community feared either he was a fanatic in pacifist clothing or that, when the time came, he would not be able to control his followers and the result would be bloodshed.
The state, impatient to survey and sell the land to raise money to pay for its ambitious immigration scheme, wrestled with the issue for four years.
In the end, as Hazel Riseborough explains in Days of Darkness, the government set out to destroy Te Whiti's mana by assembling a large force of Armed Constabulary to arrest him at gunpoint. Native minister John Bryce planned and executed the raid and the pages of the 19th century Herald suggest he would have been chosen as New Zealander of the Year.
"Opinions were much divided as to the prudence of Mr Bryce's action, a great many contending that he would precipitate the country into a war," said the paper. "[But] the result has been an entire and perfect success - a success so great that comparatively little attention is now directed to [Parihaka]."
