Māori District Council Franks

Cover front showing a Matatua District frank cancelled at Ruatoki in October 04, and signed by the Chairman T. Kamana.  The cover is also annotated Captain Marr, a famous military figure of the day.

Māori Councils: Purpose and Creation  

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Māori District Councils in New Zealand were established by the Māori Councils Act, passed on October 18, 1900. This Act was an effort to let Māori oversee aspects of their own affairs: health, welfare, moral well-being, as well as educational and cultural matters. In many respects, their functions were like those of County Councils—so they handled issues like preventing drunkenness and registering dogs—but they didn’t deal with roads or land transactions (there were separate Maori groups for those).

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The original Māori 19 Council districts were gazetted on 7 January 1901.  They were (listed roughly from North to South):

• Mangonui;

• Hokianga;

• Tokerau (renamed Pēwhairangi in 1904);

• Whangarei;

• Wairoa;

• Ngāti-Whātua;

• Te Arawa;

• Matātua;

• Horouta;

• Tākitimu;

• Kahungunu;

• Maniapoto;

• Tongariro;

• Taranaki;

• Whanganui;

• Kurahaupō;

• Tamatea;

• Rongokako; and

• Raukawa

Two more added on 20 February 1902.  They were:

• Wharekauri (Chatham Island) and

• Tauranga.

Finally three more were added 7 August 1902.  They were:

• Arapawa (Nelson and Marlborough)

• Maahunui (Canterbury and Westland), and

• Āraiteuru (Otago, Southland and Stewart Island).

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The Waikato did not take up the invitation to form a Council as there were still suspicions and bad feelings from the Waikato War.

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Under Clause 12 of the Māori Councils Act, each Council had to have a seal, approved by the Native Minister, for authenticating documents—and that seal is exactly what was used as a postal frank.

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Early Philatelic Mentions of the Franks

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Under Clause 12 of the Māori Councils Act, each Council had to have a seal, approved by the Native Minister, for authenticating documents—and that seal is exactly what was used as a postal frank.

The earliest philatelic reference I’ve found to these Māori District Council franks is by Jack Richards in the Jayrich Bulletin (Number 17, April 1954, page 83). I’ll quote his piece in full:

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“The New Zealand postal system provided for the use of ‘Frank’ stamps, which were to be used mostly on ‘Official’ mail.

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Thus in the beginning one finds mail franked by the Colonial Secretary, and various other officials; the frank used being a red manuscript with the official designation and signature of the officer concerned. As time went on the list of persons authorised to use ‘franks’ grew so much that the Government decided to reduce the right of franking to persons actually requiring such a right by the virtue of the work done by them, rather than by the fact that they were employed on official business. The subsequent official use of automatic franking machines also tended to do away with a number of franks by the fact that the franking was done by a Government Department, and not by a number of officials employed in such Department.

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Many of the franks used were printed on official paper (usually envelopes), and are often found in collections of old used stamps.  

Where a special frank stamp was used it was always necessary (except in the printed envelope type) for the holder of the frank to write his signature across the frank on the envelope. One of the unusual types of frank used is the type supplied to the members of the Māori Councils.

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The frank used by the Matatua District Māori Council was in use as late as August September 03* and the Māori Member’s signature which appears with each frank … Special envelopes were used. The following Maori inscription appeared at the top right hand corner of the envelope:

HIIRI O TE KAUNIHERA MA TE TIAMANA E WHAKIPIRI

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The frank stamp was impressed in blue over the printed Maori inscription, and the postmark appearing on top of the frank was the one used at Ruatoki. The Arapawa District Maori Council used a frank stamp similar to the one used at Matatua.”

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There were a couple of areas that needed redress; 1. researcher Robin Startup has noted that automatic franking machines didn’t come into general use within the Public Service until the early 1950s, once the conditions for using them were relaxed.  Secondly the below example frank is dated 9 Jul 1905 showing that there use was two years later than first thought.  These dates will continue to be updated as new pieces are found and we continue to learn more.​​