Henare Kaihau

{{Short description|New Zealand politician}}

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{{Use New Zealand English|date=August 2014}}

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|start={{NZ election link year|1896}}

|end=1899

|term=13th

|electorate=Western Maori

|party=Independent politician

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|start={{NZ election link year|1899}}

|end=1902

|term=14th

|electorate=Western Maori

|party=Independent politician

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|start={{NZ election link year|1902}}

|end=1905

|term=15th

|electorate=Western Maori

|party=Independent politician

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|start={{NZ election link year|1905}}

|end=1908

|term=16th

|electorate=Western Maori

|party=Independent politician

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|start={{NZ election link year|1908}}

|end=1909

|term=17th

|electorate=Western Maori

|party=Independent politician

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|start=1909

|end=1911

|party=Reform Party (New Zealand)

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File:Mahuta Tawhiao with Seddon, 1898.jpg, Premier; Mahuta Tāwhiao, Maori King. Second row from left: Tupu Taingakawa Te Waharoa, Maori Kingmaker; Henare Kaihau; James Carroll, MP. Taken at Huntly, New Zealand in 1898]]

Henare Kaihau (1854/1860? – 20 May 1920) was a New Zealand Māori politician, serving as Member of the House of Representatives for the Western Maori electorate.

His birth year is uncertain. The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography gives a range from 1854 to 1860,{{DNZB|||2k3|Kaihau, Henare|6 December 2010}} whereas Wilson gives 1855.{{cite book |last= Wilson |first= James Oakley |title= New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 |edition= 4th |origyear= First ed. published 1913 |year= 1985 |publisher= V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer |location= Wellington |oclc=154283103 |page=209}}

He unsuccessfully contested the Western Maori electorate in the {{NZ election link|1884}}. Of eight candidates, he came fifth with 9.7% of the vote.{{cite news |title=The Western Maori Election |url= http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=WT18840805.2.20 |accessdate=15 March 2014 |newspaper=Waikato Times |date=5 August 1884 |volume=XXIII |issue=1885 |page=3}} In the {{By-election link|Western Maori|1886}}, he came third out of five candidates.{{cite news |title=Wanganui Herald |url= http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=WH18870111.2.8 |accessdate=16 March 2014 |newspaper=Wanganui Herald |date=11 January 1887 |volume=XXI |issue=6117 |page=2}}{{cite news |title=The Western Maori Election |url= http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP18861230.2.14 |accessdate=16 March 2014 |newspaper=The Evening Post |date=30 December 1886 |volume=XXXII |issue=191 |page=2}} In the 1896 election, he defeated Ropata Te Ao,{{cite news |title=Untitled |url= http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=PBH18970104.2.8 |accessdate=16 January 2014 |newspaper=Poverty Bay Herald |date=4 January 1897 |volume=XXIV |issue=7816 |page=2}} and he held the Western Maori electorate to 1911 when he was defeated by Māui Pōmare.

Wilson notes him as a Reform Party supporter. Kaihau does, however, appear on a poster of the Liberal Party in 1910.{{cite web |title=Members of the Liberal Party |url= http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Members_of_the_Liberal_Party_of_the_17th_parliament.jpg |publisher=NZ Liberal Party |accessdate=19 May 2012}} The New Zealand Herald, in its {{NZ election link|1905}} reporting, also lists him as a government supporter, i.e. a Liberal.{{cite news |title=The Maori Election |url= http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=NZH19051221.2.59 |accessdate=19 March 2014 |work=The New Zealand Herald |date=21 December 1905 |volume=XLII |issue=13055 |page=6}} Those newspapers that listed political affiliation for Maori candidates for the {{NZ election link|1908}}, The Star (Christchurch) and The Tuapeka Times, also show him as a supporter of the Ward Ministry.{{cite news |title=Maori Electorates |url= http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=TS19081106.2.74 |accessdate=19 March 2014 |newspaper=The Star |date=6 November 1908 |issue=9385 |page=3}}{{cite news |title=The General Election |url= http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=TT19081205.2.13|accessdate=19 March 2014 |work=The Tuapeka Times |date=5 December 1908 |volume=XL |issue=5596 |page=3}}