The parliamentary experiment was running out
Mahuta entered the Legislative Council in 1903 after years of negotiation with Premier Richard Seddon. The Crown expected closer cooperation with Kīngitanga. Mahuta expected progress on confiscated land, Māori authority and the conditions facing his people.
Those expectations did not meet in the middle. Seddon died in 1906. Mahuta was dropped from the Executive Council in the reshuffle that followed, and he became increasingly dissatisfied with how little practical power his position carried.
1907 was a turning point
In 1907 a major Kīngitanga convention assembled at Waahi. Contemporary historical accounts describe the movement as being revitalised there under the guidance of Tupu Taingākawa Te Waharoa.
This did not mean Mahuta instantly disappeared from Crown politics. He remained a member of the Legislative Council until 1910. But the centre of gravity had shifted. His political energy was increasingly directed elsewhere.
He tried to rebuild Māori political organisation
The first new scheme Mahuta supported in 1907 was an attempt to renew a Māori parliamentary movement. The idea did not ultimately succeed because other iwi were unwilling to place themselves under Kīngitanga leadership.
Mahuta also supported Taingākawa's attempts to organise a new petition seeking redress for Māori grievances under the Treaty of Waitangi.
That is important because it shows Mahuta had not abandoned political negotiation. He was changing the machinery through which that negotiation would occur.
He also wanted a physical centre for the kingdom
Mahuta's second major project was more concrete: he wanted to establish a renewed centre for Kīngitanga around Taupiri and Ngāruawāhia.
The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography records that he envisaged a new Māori settlement and township, occupied and worked by Māori, while still allowing some land to be leased to Pākehā. He expected the government to assist with the land arrangements and planned to contribute land for surveying costs.
The larger plan was not completed during his lifetime. But Mahuta did purchase a site at Ngāruawāhia for a parliament house and set aside money for its construction.
1910: Mahuta formally resumes the kingship
During his Legislative Council period Mahuta had temporarily passed the active kingship to his younger brother, Te Wherowhero Tāwhiao. When his Legislative Council term expired on 21 May 1910, he was not reappointed.
Mahuta then formally resumed the kingship.
The final two years were difficult
Mahuta's return to the kingship did not produce an easy final chapter. The historical record describes increasing tensions around the direction of the movement, concerns over finances, and difficult political choices over parliamentary representation.
At the same time a younger generation was becoming more visible. Mahuta's son Te Rata and his niece Te Puea Hērangi were already participating in the political decisions surrounding Kīngitanga.
That matters because the next phase of the movement would soon fall to them.
Mahuta dies at Waahi
Mahuta died at Waahi on 9 November 1912. Thousands came to his tangihanga, and his body lay in state so Kīngitanga communities could pay their respects.
His eldest son, Te Rata, was selected to succeed him. Te Ara records that Te Rata was invested as Māori King during the tangihanga before Mahuta was buried on Taupiri mountain.
What Mahuta left behind
Mahuta's reign cannot be reduced to the Legislative Council experiment. He inherited a movement living with the direct consequences of invasion, raupatu and political marginalisation. He tested Crown participation, challenged land policy, supported renewed Māori political organisation, sought a physical centre for Kīngitanga and ultimately returned to the kingship when the parliamentary experiment ended.
Where the series goes next
Part 7 follows Te Rata Mahuta as he inherits both the kingship and the unresolved struggle: raupatu, Crown petitions, the search for recognition overseas, and a movement entering a new century without the grievance ever having been settled.