Parris Street (Waitara)

Robert Parris looms large in the land transactions in Taranaki around the era of the Taranaki Wars. Born in 1816 in Chard, Somerset, England, he came to New Plymouth in 1842 on the Blenheim with his wife Mary and two children.

He tried farming but failed and went to Auckland to Bishop Selwyn's St John's College in 1849 as farm manager. Here he rose to become the superintendent of the industrial school where he learned Māori language and customs.

He returned to New Plymouth in 1852 and was elected to the provincial council in 1853. He resigned in 1857 when appointed as District Land Purchase Commissioner at New Plymouth.

Famously he investigated Te Teira's title to the land at Waitara, which led to the disputed purchase in November 1859. By this time he was acting as the assistant to the Native Secretary, and was authorised to pay £100 deposit. He then attempted to survey the land and was rewarded with the outbreak of war.

Parris led a dangerous existence, surviving ambush and conflict. He served as captain in the militia in 1863 and was promoted to major in 1865.

Appointed civil commissioner in Taranaki later that year, he was skilled in dealing with disaffected tribes and was credited with helping maintain the peace between Māori and Pākehā. In 1866 he became a judge in the Compensation Court, ruling under the New Zealand Settlements Act (1863).

He went on to become the resident magistrate for New Plymouth, served as a judge of the Native Land Court adjudicating many of the settlements on the inland Taranaki blocks. Notably he was serving when Te Whiti and Tohu of Parihaka were convicted in November 1881

Despite being the administrator of many of the patently unfair laws and transactions of the time, he has been perceived as being a hard but fair man. Te Whiti said in 1879..."... [Parris] always came and told us his intentions before taking action". No doubt history sees those actions as extremely dodgy, if not despicable, but somehow through it all Parris seems to retain a lot of dignity.

Ironically he is descended from a family of "roundheads" who had their property confiscated by James II in the 17^th century.    

Parris died in New Plymouth on 18 September 1904 and is buried in St. Mary's churchyard.

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.