Dog Tax War

The Dog Tax war is described by some authors as the last gasp of the 19th-century wars between the Māori and the Pākehā, the British settlers of New Zealand. It was, however, a bloodless "war", with only a few shots being fired.

In the 1890s the Hokianga County Council imposed a tax of 2/6d (half crown) on each dog in the district. Many people, particularly in the South Hokianga, refused to pay, one of which was Hone Riiwi Toia. It was this encroachment of British colonial laws over Māori autonomy that instigated an armed protest, the response to which became known as the Dog Tax War.

Hone Toia was the leader/prophet of a breakaway group of Wesleyans called Te Huihuinga or Te Huihui. Te Huihuinga was also a political movement and considered themselves as having seceded to 'Te Kotahitanga' (an autonomous Māori parliament movement founded upon 'Te Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tïreni' 1835 (Declaration of Independence)). Other grievances held by this group included seasonal restrictions on the hunting of native birds, the land tax (on land held under Crown grant within five miles of a public road), the wheel tax (on vehicles with certain tyre widths).

It was during a Te Huihui meeting that Hone Toia prophesied that "if dogs were to be taxed, men would be next".

Hone had met with Te Whiti-o-Rongomai the leader of the Pai Marire (good and peaceful) movement, Te Huihuinga adopted aspects of this movement which sought to retain their right to live as Māori without interference, and to make use of their traditional resources as guaranteed by the Treaty of Waitangi.

Europeans regarded Hone Toia as an imposter, other associated him with the Hau Hau movement. This was a vehemently anti-Pākehā cult that had developed in the 1860s and spread throughout the North Island, and had been heavily involved in the later major conflicts, the Second Taranaki War and others subsequently.

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