Hà Âne Heke NgÃÂpua (6 June 1869 â 9 February 1909) was a MÃÂori and Liberal Party Member of Parliament in New Zealand. He was born in Kaikohe, and was named after his great-uncle Hà Âne Heke. NgÃÂpua is best remembered for his advocacy for Te Kotahitanga, sponsorship of MÃÂori autonomy in Parliament through a Native Rights Bill, and his successful intervention in the Dog Tax War of 1898.
NgÃÂpua was born on 6 June 1869 at Kaikohe, the eldest child of Niurangi Pà «riri and Hà Âne NgÃÂpua. He never married. His paternal grandfather was Tuhirangi, the elder brother of Hà Âne Heke Pà Âkai. His paternal grandmother Waiopare, of Te Kawerau àMaki and Tainui heritage, was taken from the Kawerau àMaki settlement at Karekare during the Musket Wars.
He won the Northern Maori electorate in 1893, with the support of Kotahitanga. He was adjudged bankrupt and vacated the seat on 29 October 1900. However, he was re-elected to the seat in a by-election on 9 January 1901 (as Joseph Ward was in 1897). He died in Wellington of tuberculosis at only 40 while an MP in 1909.
In 1894, and again in 1896, NgÃÂpua introduced a Native Rights Bill sponsored by the Kotahitanga movement which sought political autonomy for MÃÂori and a separate MÃÂori Parliament. NgÃÂpua collaborated with ÃÂpirana Ngata to eventually incorporate elements of the Native Rights Bill in the Maori Lands Administration Act and Maori Councils Act, both of which passed in 1900.
NgÃÂpua earned a reputation as a peacemaker through his two major interventions in disputes between MÃÂori and the Crown. The first was in the Urewera survey trouble of 1895 in which NgÃÂpua counselled peace and prevented armed conflict from breaking out. In 1898, NgÃÂpua hastily returned to his electorate and arrived just in time to defuse a face-off between MÃÂori led by HÃ Âne Riiwi TÃ Âia and Crown forces at the height of the Dog Tax War of 1898.
In the later years of his life NgÃÂpua was influential in the development of the Young Maori Party through his personal relationships and political collaborations with James Carroll, Ngata, and Peter Buck. Upon his death, Peter Buck took up his seat in the House of Representatives with the backing of NgÃÂpua's family and tribe.