Arrest of Te Whiti & Tohu

Trial

• Te Whiti and Tohu appeared before a magistrates court on 12th November 1881.
    

 

After four days sentenced to jail in N. Plymouth until further notice.

 

 

Titokowaru appeared before the court on 25th November, after six months in prison the 3 charges against him were dropped.

Charges Laid

• Te Whiti was charged with:

“wickedly, maliciously and seditiously contriving and intending to disturb the peace, inciting insurrections, riots, tumults, and breaches of the peace, and, to prevent by force and arms the execution of the law did wickedly declare false, wicked, seditious and inflammatory words.”  

• The 'inflammatory words' alleged were: 
• naku te whenua (the land belongs to me).

naku nga tangata (the people belong to me).

ko te tino pakanga tenei o tenei whakatupuranga (this is the main struggle of this generation).
 

Jail

• In April 1882, Te Whiti and Tohu were transferred to Addington gaol in Christchurch.
   
• In May, the Native Minister introduced the West Coast Peace Preservation Act 1882, allowed for the indefinite imprisonment of Te Whiti and Tohu and rendered their trial 'unnecessary'.
   
• It also made any group of more than 50 Maori assembling on the west coast liable to arrest and imprisonment.
   
• Also, the Indemnity Act 1882 indemnified those who, in the action taken to 'preserve the peace', might have exceeded their legal powers. 

 
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