Edward Robert Tregear , Ordre des Palmes académiques (1846–1931) was a New Zealand public servant and scholar. He was an architect of New Zealand's advanced social reforms and progressive labour legislation during the 1890s.

Biography

He was born in

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, England, on 1 May 1846, the son of Captain William Henry Tregear, a descendant of an old Cornish family. Tregear was educated in private schools and trained as a civil engineer. He arrived in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

in June 1863 and took a position as a surveyor. This work brought him into close contact with the Māori, and he began to study their language and culture. Poverty forced Tregear to enlist in the Auckland Engineer Volunteers. He saw action against the Māori in the

Tauranga Tauranga () is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty region and the fifth most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of , or roughly 3% of the national population. It was settled by Māori late in the 13th century, colonised by ...

area and was awarded the New Zealand War Medal. Between 1869 and 1873 he worked as a surveyor on the goldfields at Thames and Coromandel and on Māori lands near

Tokoroa Tokoroa ( mi, Te Kaokaoroa o Pātetere) is the fifth-largest town in the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand and largest settlement in the South Waikato District. Located 30 km southwest of Rotorua, close to the foot of the ...

. His investments in gold mining and saw milling ventures proved disastrous, and he lost what little money he had, setting a pattern for the rest of his life in financial matters. In 1877 he moved to Patea, working privately until 1881 as a surveyor for roads boards. He also captained the Patea Rifle Volunteers. His research on comparative mythology and linguistics was expressed in a controversial book ''The Aryan Maori'' (1885), in which he placed the

Māori language Māori (), or ('the Māori language'), also known as ('the language'), is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. Closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and ...

in the ranks of the

Indo-European language family The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Du ...

and further claimed, interpreting racial rather than linguistic aspects of the theories of

Friedrich Max Muller Friedrich may refer to: Names *Friedrich (surname), people with the surname ''Friedrich'' *Friedrich (given name), people with the given name ''Friedrich'' Other *Friedrich (board game), a board game about Frederick the Great and the Seven Years' ...

, that Māori were descended from Hindu Brahmins who spread south, from India; he argued therefore that Māori had the same Indo-Iranian origins as Europeans. While this ' Aryan Māori' theory was hotly contested in New Zealand it received favourable attention overseas. Tregear frequently contributed articles on Māori anthropology to scholarly British journals, received fellowships of the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

and the

Royal Historical Society The Royal Historical Society, founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history. Origins The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the Histori ...

. Following on the heels of these fellowships, in 1893 he received a silver medal and an offer of a fellowship from the

Society of Science, Letters and Art The Society of Science, Letters and Art, also known as the Society of Science or SSLA, was a ''Self-proclaimed, soi-disant'' learned society which flourished between 1882 and 1902. Dr Edward Albert Sturman, M.A., F.R.S.L., owned and ran the Soci ...

, which he wisely refused, a refusal that triggered an exposé in New Zealand, which proved the institution to be without authenticity.''Evening Post'', New Zealand, Volume XLV, Issue 132, 7 June 1893, p.2: A bogus literary society
Retrieved 6 February 2014 Tregear was to repeat and refine his theory of the Aryan origin of Māori in many works during the succeeding two decades. A freethinking socialist, Tregear was a personal friend of the politicians Ballance and Reeves. When the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

took office in 1891, he was named head of the new Bureau of Industries, later known as the Department of Labour. Working closely with Reeves as Minister, Tregear was responsible for the huge amount of progressive labour legislation passed in the 1890s. He was editor of the ''Journal of the Department of Labour''. In 1891 Tregear published the ''Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary'' which is regarded as his most important contribution to scholarship. In 1892 he co-founded the Polynesian Society with Percy Smith, with whom he co-edited the journal of the society. The French Government took official cognisance of the great amount of work devoted to the dialects of the Pacific Islands under the control of France, and he received the high honour of Officier of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques. He completed a substantial work, ''The Maori Race'' in 1904. Following his retirement as Secretary of Labour in 1910, he was honoured with the

Imperial Service Order The Imperial Service Order was established by King Edward VII in August 1902. It was awarded on retirement to the administration and clerical staff of the Civil Service throughout the British Empire for long and meritorious service. Normally a p ...

. Tregear never stood for Parliament, despite Ballance's urgings. In a 1912 by-election, he was elected to the

Wellington City Council Wellington City Council is a territorial authority in New Zealand, governing the country's capital city Wellington, and ''de facto'' second-largest city (if the commonly considered parts of Wellington, the Upper Hutt, Porirua, Lower Hutt and ...

(re-elected

1913 Events January * January 5 – First Balkan War: Battle of Lemnos – Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it will not venture for the rest of the ...

) and became president of the militant

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

. However, in 1914, afflicted with failing eyesight and gravely troubled and disheartened by the failure of the waterfront strike, Tregear suddenly resigned all his offices. He retired to Picton in the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

where he died on 28 October 1931. He was survived by his wife Bessie and their only daughter Vera.

Contribution

Tregear is regarded as an architect of the advanced social reforms which drew the world's attention to New Zealand. He was a prolific writer in a range of creative writing genres including poetry, satire and children's fairy stories, besides scholarly papers of anthropology and sociology. While his theory on the origins of the Māori people has been proved incorrect, his linguistic work has proven to be more durable. He was an engaged thinker. "Tregear was among the country's most prominent, prolific and controversial intellectuals. Besides Polynesian studies, he produced journal and newspaper articles and public lectures on religion, philology, mythology, literature, science, economics, women, philosophy, ancient history, politics – indeed almost the entire spectrum of human history and experience" (Howe 2006). Mount Tregear in the

Southern Alps The Southern Alps (; officially Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana) is a mountain range extending along much of the length of New Zealand's South Island, reaching its greatest elevations near the range's western side. The name "Southern ...

is named after him in close proximity to peaks named after other

figures Notman, Ballance and

Stout Stout is a dark, top-fermented beer with a number of variations, including dry stout, oatmeal stout, milk stout, and imperial stout. The first known use of the word ''stout'' for beer, in a document dated 1677 found in the Egerton Manuscr ...

. Tregear's documentation of Moriori Census on the

Chatham Islands The Chatham Islands ( ) (Moriori: ''Rēkohu'', 'Misty Sun'; mi, Wharekauri) are an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean about east of New Zealand's South Island. They are administered as part of New Zealand. The archipelago consists of about t ...

as of 1889 is essential even today for the preservation of this unique culture: ead before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 4 December 1889.on the

Moriori The Moriori are the native Polynesian people of the Chatham Islands (''Rēkohu'' in Moriori; ' in Māori), New Zealand. Moriori originated from Māori settlers from the New Zealand mainland around 1500 CE. This was near the time of th ...

of the Chatham Islands: By Edward Tregear, F.R.G.S. "Thinking that, as the Moriori are rapidly dying out, scientists at the end of the next half-century might be interested in knowing what was the exact state of the native population in 1889, I made a census-inquiry, with the following result:— Chatham Islands, 23rd September, 1889. At Manukau. Men: Hiriona Tapu, Tiritiu Hokokaranga, Heta Namu (half-caste, Maori and Moriori), Horomona te Rangitapua, Apieta Tume, Te Karaka Kahukura, Te Ohepa nga Mapu (half-caste, Maori and Moriori). Women: Rohana Tapu, Paranihi Heta, Pakura te Retiu, Himaira Horomana, Harireta te Hohepa, Ruiha te Hira (half-caste, Maori and Moriori). Children: Tame Horomana (boy), Mika Heta (boy), Ngana Riwai (girl). At Kaingaroa. Men: Hoani Whaiti Ruea, Te Ropiha Rangikeno (an old man), Riwai te Ropiha, Tamihana Heta. Women: Eripeta Hoani Whaiti, Kiti Riwai (a quarter-caste pakeha—i.e., child of pakeha and half-caste woman), Emiri Parata (half Maori, half Moriori). At Waitangi. Men: Pumipi te Rangaranga (a very old man), Heremaia Tau, Wi Hoeta Taitua, Te Teira Pewha, Timoti Wetini, Taitua Hangi, Temuera Numi. Women: Hipera te Teira, Paranihi Taitua, Ereni Timoti (or E Puti) (half-caste, Maori and Moriori). Making twenty-seven of pure Moriori descent, and five half-breeds. The Maoris on the islands number about two hundred and fifty souls, and there is roughly about the same number of a white population."TRANSACTIONS AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF NEW ZEALAND, VOLUME 22, 1889, 1889, PAGE 75, The Moriori https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/TPRSNZ1889-22.2.4.1.7

List of honours

(United Kingdom) * Palmes academiques Chevalier ribbon

Officier of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques (France)

Notes

References

* (1966): Tregear, Edward, I.S.O. (1846–1931). ''In:'' : ''

Encyclopaedia of New Zealand ''An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand'' is an official encyclopaedia about New Zealand, published in three volumes by the New Zealand Government in 1966. Edited by Alexander Hare McLintock, the parliamentary historian, assisted by two others, the e ...

'' III: 446–447. Government Printer, Wellington. * (1991): ''Singer in a Songless Land: a life of Edward Tregear, 1846–1931'',

Auckland University Press Auckland University Press is a New Zealand publisher that produces creative and scholarly work for a general audience. Founded in 1966 and formally recognised as Auckland University Press in 1972, it is an independent publisher based within The ...

* (1934):
"Famous New Zealanders, No. 13, Edward Tregear – Pioneer, Scholar, Humanitarian"
''The New Zealand Railways Magazine''; Volume 9, Issue 1 (2 April 1934).

Biography

Contribution

List of honours

Notes

References

Further reading