Wāhanga 2: ngā mahi uniana, Bob Tūtaki me ngā kaikutikuti hipi o te hau kāinga

I tītiro te hāwhe tuatahi o te kōrero nei ki ngā mahi tōmua a te New Zealand Workers Union (NZWU), a tāna tino kaiārahi Māori hoki, ko Bob Tūtaki tōna ingoa.  Ka aro tēnei hāwhe ki ngā mahi uniana i te wā pakanga, ki tō Tūtaki kaha hoki ki te whakarite i ngā tikanga whakature [manpowering] i roto i ngā mahi kutikuti.

I te Pakanga Tuarua o te Ao, ka tautoko ngā uniana i ngā mahi pakanga i te nuinga o te wā. E ai ki a Bert Roth, ‘unionists did not merely work harder to increase production, they also found time to raise funds for Victory Loans, Defence Bonds, and other patriotic causes. They looked forward to the New Order of social justice which was to follow victory over the fascist powers’.[1] Ā, pērā me Bob Tūtaki, i runga i ā rātou matatau ki te whakahaere tāngata, ki te āhua hoki o ngā kaimahi, ka tahuri ngā uniana ki te āwhina i ngā mahi kimi tangata hei hōia, hei kaimahi whakature hoki.

I muri i te urunga o Rūhia ki roto i te whawhai i te tau 1941, ka tautoko kē hoki te Pāti Communist i ngā mahi pakanga, me te karanga kia whakaputaina nuitia ngā hua ahumahi, kia whakamutua hoki ngā porotū (taraiki).  I roto i ngā niupepa o te taha mauī, ka tuhia māriretia te painga o te kuhunga mai o ngā Māori ki roto i ngā wāhi ahumahi me ngā uniana, te whawhai i ngā tikanga aukati iwi, arā kaikiri, me te pukumahi i roto i ngā mahi whakahirahira o te motu.  E ai ki tā In Print:

 ‘Maori men and women are flocking to Wellington from the country areas to take their part in the nation’s industrial war effort and can be seen doing their job alongside their pakeha brothers and sisters in most of the essential industrial enterprises in the city… It is only since the war that this opportunity has been available to the members of the Maori race is large numbers… We can be sure that many Maoris will retain their place in industrial life even after the war, and with the support of their pakeha fellow workers and Trade Unions, will demand equal opportunity and no racial discrimination against the Maori people’. [2]

I pēnei hoki te whakaaro o Tūtaki. I muri i te tau 1939, i runga i āna wheako i roto i te Rōpū Reipa me te uniana, ka puta mai te māharahara ki a Tūtaki i ngā take e pā ana ki ngā tikanga whakature me ngā mahi kutikuti. I waenganui i te tau 1940, ka tuhi atu ia ki te Minita o te Kaupapa Waonga [Defence], e mea ana:

Owing to the great number of shearers who have enlisted prompted me to write you about it. With all due respect to the man whether in shearing or otherwise who offers his service to the call of the Empire, but there is one thing I’m afraid of, that is the shortage of shearers for next season is going to be a very serious problem. My duty as an organiser of the NZ Workers Union gives me a fair idea as to the seriousness of the situation, therefore, wish you might give this question a bit of your time and let me have your views on it. I would like to make a suggestion to you, that when it comes to checking the names on the enlistment list that it is quite possible for me to examine the [Hawke’s Bay] list, which territory where my activities cover, in that case, I will be in the position to check up the shearers especially the competent shearers. 

Trusting to hear from you at your earliest,

Kia ora,

Bob Tutaki [3]

I whakautu mai te kāwanatanga, e kī ana, ahakoa e whakamaioratia ana ōna whakaaro, me waiho mā te Manpower Organisation hei whakahaere i ngā tikanga whakature kaimahi. [4] Engari, ka tae atu ki te tau 1941, ka kitea he tika tā Tūtaki poropititanga; i te māharahara ngā āpiha kāwanatanga i te tokoiti o ngā kaikutikuti hipi e toe ana.  Kātahi a Tūtaki ka whakatūria hei āpiha e kimi ana i ngā kaikutikuti Māori i raro i ngā tikanga whakature, hei hāpai i ngā mahi pakanga.

E ai ki a Tūtaki, nā te urunga o ngā Māori ki roto i te Hokowhitu-a-Tū (i te 28 o ngā ope tauā) i tokoiti ai te hunga kutikuti hipi.  I mea mai te tiamana o te Komiti Manpower o Heretaunga, nā te ‘wonderful co-operation of Mr. R. Tūtaki and the trade organisations, even more so than farmers’ organisations, we have been able to keep shearers back. One or two may slip through our hands, but we are keeping back any man who is a decent sort of shearer’. [5] Nā Tūtaki i whakatakoto he kēhi ki mua i ngā Komiti Manpower kia whakahokia ngā tāne Māori mai i te puni hoia ki te kutikuti hipi. [6]

Kīhai ētahi tāne Māori i hiahia kia whakahaua kia hoki ki te tā rātou mahi o mua, inarā, ko ngā mea e noho kē ana ki te puni o Te Hokowhitu-a-Tū.  Engari, kāore i taea te aha e te Tumaki o te National Service Department.  I Hune 1944, ka tuhi ia: ‘The East Coast Māoris have made a splendid contribution to the war effort, but the continual drain of men from these districts is having a serious effect on primary production . . . In this district. Māoris constitute practically the only source of skilled labour for shearing and when not shearing they are engaged as general farm labourers’. [7]

E pērā ana tō Tūtaki whakaaro ki tō Ngata, arā, kia rite te “raupanga” o te Māori ki tō te Pākehā, engari, ka aro ia ki te hau kāinga. Hei tauira; ahakoa kāore he ture hei whakahau i te whakaurunga o ngā tāne Māori ki roto i te ope tauā, ka tonoa atu e Tūtaki ki te Pirimia kia whakahaua te whakaurunga ki roto i ngā ope e noho nei ki Aotearoa.  I mea atu ia, kia kaua e pērā ki ngā hōia Pākehā i tukuna ki tāwāhi, engari ‘but is merely to make Territorial training compulsory for the Maori. We must be made to realise the danger facing us today and share the burden as far as the war effort is concerned.’[8]

He kaihautū a Tūtaki nō te taha uniana, engari ko te āhua nei he nui kē tōna piripono ki te Rōpū Reipa.  I te tau 1947, ka tautohe te uniana o ngā kaimahi wāpu ki te Kāwanatanga Reipa mō te wiki e whā tekau hāora.  Ko te kupu a Tūtaki, ka tū tahi te iwi Māori me te Kāwanatanga, ā, mehemea he porotū, ka ahu atu ngā Māori ki ngā wāpu mahi ai.  Mehemea ka karangatia e te Kāwanatanga ‘we who are blessed with foresight and common sense will respond to that call unhesitatingly’. [9]  Nā konei i rīhaina ai a Tūtaki i tāna tūranga i roto i te NZWU. Kohetetia ana ia i tō te uniana hui ā-tau e whai ana, engari ka whakatūria anō ia ki tōna tūranga whakahaere.  Whakawhiwhia ana ia ki te MBE i te tau 1949 mō āna mahi kimi tangata o te wā pakanga.  I te tau 1957 ia i mate ai, i nehu ai ki Omāhu.

***

Ka puta he pātai whakahirahira mai i te kōrero nei mō ngā mahi a ngā uniana me ngā kaimahi Māori ki Aotearoa i te wā pakanga.  

I pēhea ā rātou tohe kia pai ake ngā mahi a ngā kaimahi o Aotearoa, a ngā hōia e whawhai ana, ā, i pēheatia e te wā pakanga te urunga o Ngāi Māori ki roto i ngā uniana i muri te pakanga? He aha ngā “hua” o ngā tikanga whakature kaimahi mō te iwi Māori? 

Ka kitea pea ētahi mea i roto i tēnei kōrero mō Bob Tūtaki me ngā mahi kutikuti hipi, engari, he riripi noa.  Koia anō e matea nei he rangahau anō kia āta mōhiotia ai tēnei kaupapa nui.

Whakaahua: Tokorua ngā tāne e kutikuti hipi ana, me ngā wāhine e kohikohi wūru ana, Collins, Tudor Washington, 1898-1970, kaitango-whakaahua, PH-2013-7-TC-B758-04, Auckland War Memorial Museum Tamaki Paenga Hira.

 [1]Bert Roth rāua ko Janny Hammond, Toil and Trouble: The Struggle for a Better Life in New Zealand, Auckland, 1981, wh.134.

 [2] In Print, 4 November 1942.

 [3] Bob Tūtaki to Minister of Defence, 13 June 1940, Recruitment - Enlistment; special force; reserved occupations - Musterers and shearers - General - CMD [Central Military District] 1, 312/2/83c, Part 1, ANZ, Wellington.

 [4] Army Secretary to Bob Tūtaki, 20 June 1940. Recruitment - Enlistment; special force; reserved occupations - Musterers and shearers - General - CMD [Central Military District] 1, 312/2/83c, Part 1, ANZ, Wellington.

 [5] Gisborne Herald, 25 Hūrae 1941.

 [6] The Director of the National Service Department to Director of Mobilization, 16 March 1942. Recruitment - Enlistment; special force; reserved occupations - Musterers and shearers - General - CMD [Central Military District] 1, 312/2/83c, Part 1, ANZ, Wellington.

 [7] The Director of the National Service Department to Director of Mobilization, 15 June 1944. Recruitment - Shearers and Musterers 3, 312/2/83c, Part 3, ANZ, Wellington.

 [8] Evening Post, 24 Hānuere 1942.

 [9] Gisborne Herald, 11 Hānuere 1947.

[10] John E. Martin. 'Tutaki, Robert Panapa', Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, putanga tutahi i te tau 1996. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/3t46/tutaki-robert-panapa (he mea titiro: 10 January 2020)