Sir James Carroll (MÃÂori: Timi Kara; 20 August 1857 â 18 October 1926), was a New Zealand politician. Beginning his career as an interpreter and land agent, Carroll was elected to the Eastern Maori seat in 1887. He was acting colonial secretary (equivalent to the minister of internal affairs) from 1897 to 1899. He was the first MÃÂori to hold the cabinet position of Minister of Native Affairs, which he held between 1899 and 1912. He was held in high regard within the Liberal Party and was acting prime minister in 1909 and 1911.
James Carroll was born at Wairoa, one of eight children in 1857. His father, Joseph Carroll, was born in Sydney of Irish descent, and his mother, Tapuke, was a MÃÂori woman of the NgÃÂti Kahungunu iwi. He was educated both at whare wÃÂnanga (traditional MÃÂori college) and the Wairoa native school but left early to be a farm worker.
In 1870, while no more than thirteen, he was part of the MÃÂori force pursuing Te Kooti in the Urewera, and his bravery was mentioned in dispatches. He became a cadet for the Native Department in Hawke's Bay and later in Wellington but was back on a farm by 1875.
In 1881 he married HÃÂni Materoa and they settled in Gisborne. The couple adopted several children but had no biological children.
Carroll first stood for New Zealand Parliament in 1884, unsuccessfully contesting the Eastern Maori electorate against Wi Pere. By the 1887 election, John Ballance's paternalistic Native Land Administration Act of 1886, which proposed leasing MÃÂori lands through a government commissioner, was a major issue. Carroll, an opponent of the act, won the electorate. He was confirmed in the next election in . In the , he stood in the Waiapu electorate. From , he represented the electorate, until he was defeated in 1919.
Entering parliament, Carroll wanted to create equality for MÃÂori by allowing them to lease land and use the revenue to invest in their own farms. The settler preference was for freehold title, and this solution was favoured by the Atkinson Government. He was appointed in March 1892 a member of the Executive Council representing the native race, and had to support the government in compulsory acquisition.
Te Kotahitanga MÃÂori MPs criticised Carroll's stance, and he decided to stand for the General Electorate of Waiapu. He won this seat in 1893, the first time a MÃÂori was elected to a general electorate seat.
Te Kotahitanga continued to promote a separate law-making assembly for MÃÂori, and Carroll travelled to MÃÂori communities speaking out against separatism. In 1899, he became Native Minister in the Liberal Government, the first person of MÃÂori descent to hold this office. He established the MÃÂori Councils Act, which allowed local MÃÂori committees to deal with health, sanitation and liquor control, and the MÃÂori land councils, controlled by MÃÂori and which could sell or lease land.
The settler view was that much of the North Island under MÃÂori control should be developed, and Carroll as Native Minister to 1912 was under pressure to allow more land sales. Many MÃÂori consider that he made too many concessions, but he always fought for the rights of MÃÂori at a time when there was little support for his views.
Twice in the Liberal Government, Carroll acted as Prime Minister, and his status was confirmed by the awarding in the 1911 Coronation Honours of the KCMG, becoming the first MÃÂori to be knighted. Carroll continued to represent the general electorate of Gisborne until 1919, when he was defeated by Douglas Lysnar.
On 2 September 1921, Carroll was appointed to the Legislative Council by Prime Minister William Massey. From the Upper House of New Zealand, he was able to support ÃÂpirana Ngata and other rising MÃÂori leaders.
He died suddenly in Auckland from kidney failure on 18 October 1926. His body was returned to Gisborne, where he was buried at Makaraka.
Farmer and politician Turi Carroll was a nephew.
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