Hunter case pocket watch

This engraved gold watch was presented to Sir James Carroll, also known as Timi Kara (Ngāti Kahungunu) in 1912, in appreciation of his many years of public service. It was given to Carroll by ‘Friends and Admirers’ from Wairoa during a banquet on 20 May 1912. It is engraved with messages in English and Te Reo Maori and has ‘JC’ monogramed on the front with a patu intertwined in the letters. 

Sir James Carroll
James Carroll was born under a kouka tree on the banks of the Wairoa River in 1857.  As a boy he was taught by tohunga at Matiti and Hikawai pā, and he attended the Native School at Wairoa. At age 12 or 13 Carroll joined a 300-strong Māori force pursuing Te Kooti in Te Urewera. Later his father secured him a cadetship in the Native Department, but Carroll was still a young man and restless, so returned to Hawke’s Bay in 1875 and worked as a farm labourer.

Carroll was appointed as Interpreter to the House of Representatives in Wellington in 1879, and in that role, became very familiar with parliamentary procedure. He married Hēni Materoa/Te Huinga (Rongowhakaata, Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki) in 1881 and they made their home in Gisborne. Having developed an interest in politics through his work as an interpreter, Carroll entered Parliament as the MP for Eastern Māori in 1887, held the Waiapu general seat from 1893 to 1908, and the Gisborne general seat from 1908 to 1919. He was Native Minister from 1899 to 1912, served as acting Prime Minister in 1909 and 1911, and was knighted in 1911.

Throughout his political career Carroll fought to empower Māori and enhance their ability to control and use their land. He tried to work within mainstream European systems, which sometimes put him at odds with those in the Kotahitanga movement, and ultimately ‘the combined forces on both sides of Parliament demanding the purchase of Māori land were too great for him’ (Ward). He was widely admired for his knowledge, oratory skill, wit and warmth, and after his death in 1926 he was remembered for his humanity and dignity. 

Presentation of the watch
The watch was presented to Carroll during a banquet in Wairoa on 20 May 1912. Earlier in the day Carroll had driven the first pile of the Wairoa Harbour Works at a ceremony witnessed by 2500 people. The pile-driving was followed by a pōwhiri and feast attended by 800 people, and the ‘auspicious ceremony’ concluded with an afternoon tea. At the banquet later that evening, residents presented Carroll with the watch and paid tribute to his ‘long and faithful services in the Wairoa district’ (Gisborne Times, 21 May 1912).

The watch was made by Rotherhams; an English watch manufacturing company which in 1899 was employing between 400 and 500 people and producing 100 watches per day. Rotherhams watches were sold by jewellers throughout Australasia and were advertised as ‘amongst the most reliable Watches in the world’ (New Zealand Times, 3 March 1906).

References
--- 2018. ‘125 years on: James Carroll wins a general electorate seat,’ New Zealand Parliament.
--- n.d. ‘Rotherhams: Our Long and Illustrious History,’ Rotherhams website.
---. 1906. Advertisements, New Zealand Times, 3 March.
---. 1912. ‘After forty years,’ Gisborne Times, 21 May.
How, Nigel. [2011]. ‘Te Ariki: An exhibition on the life of Wairoa’s most prominent son Sir James Carroll’. Notes from exhibition at Wairoa Museum Kopututanga Taonga o Te Wairoa, provided to curator.
Ministry for Culture and Heritage. 2017. 'James Carroll', NZ History website.
Ward, Alan. 1993. 'Carroll, James', Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, first published in 1993. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand.