In April 1882 Premier John Hall privately criticised Bryce to the Attorney General and said he would resign 'unless Bryce turned over a new leaf'. Bryce became Native Minister, and on 5 November 1881 was at Parihaka at the head of 1,600 Armed Constabulary to arrest the leaders and disperse the village. Rolleston was to be Native Minister only until October 1881, and in his last act, proclaimed that Parihaka inhabitants had fourteen days to comply with the law or faced confiscation of all their lands. By January 1881, his actions were being questioned in the British parliament, and he resigned to be replaced by the more moderate William Rolleston. When Bryce became Minister in 1879, two hundred Maori ploughmen were already imprisoned, and his introduction of the Confiscated Lands Inquiry and Maori Prisoners' Trials Act in 1879 allowed them to stay in prison awaiting trial for up to two years. The alienation of Taranaki land was challenged by Te Whiti o Rongomai and Tohu Kākahi at Parihaka and their followers cultivated and planted confiscated land. Gordon's involvement and the damaging trial publicity delayed his elevation to the British peerage. Ex-Governor Arthur Hamilton-Gordon supported publisher Rusden but when the case went to trial Bryce won and was awarded damages as it was proved no women were present at Handley's woolshed, and Bryce denied being directly involved. The incident in which Bryce was alleged to have taken part was reported as an attack on woman and children in the "History of New Zealand" published in 1883 and led to a successful libel action against the publisher George William Rusden. Later reports had the Māori as a group of unarmed boys, aged from ten to twelve. Initially it was reported as an attack on a band of Hauhau warriors, killing two and wounding others and where Bryce was "prominent and set the men a gallant example" according to his commanding officer. Bryce was proud of his commission, but an incident at William Handley's woolshed in November 1868 clouded his military career. When settlers were threatened by Māori led by Tītokowaru in 1867, Bryce volunteered and became a lieutenant in the Kai-iwi Yeomanry Cavalry Volunteers. By 1862 he was representing his area in the Wellington Provincial Council, and by 1866 was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wanganui, a position he held for only a year before resigning due to ill-health. In 1859, Bryce started his political career. Early political career New Zealand Parliament Years Īfter a short time in the Australian gold-fields in 1851, he purchased a farm near Wanganui and remained a farmer for the next fifty years. John Bryce arrived in New Zealand as a child in 1840, and had little formal education. ĭescribed as being stubborn and embittered to Māori questions, Bryce was the public face of a harsh policy towards Māori, but his actions were supported by the Premier and other members of his cabinet. In his attitudes to Māori land questions, he favoured strict legal actions against Māori opposed to alienation, and he personally directed the invasion of Parihaka and the arrest of the leaders of the movement. John Bryce (14 September 1833 – 17 January 1913) was a New Zealand politician from 1871 to 1891 and Minister of Native Affairs from 1879 to 1884.
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