the wars some iwi, especially in the Waikato, such as Ngati Haua sold land freely. Some iwi sided with the government and, later, fought with the government. They were motivated partly by the thought that an alliance with the government would benefit them, and partly by old feuds with the iwi they fought against. One result of their co-operation strategy was the establishment of the four Māori electorates in the House of Representatives, in 1867. After the wars, some Māori began a strategy of passive resistance, most famously the ploughing campaigns at Parihaka on 26 May 1879 in Taranaki. Most, such as NgaPuhi and Arawa continued co-operating with Pākehā. For example, tourism ventures were established by Te Arawa around Rotorua. Resisting and co-operating iwi both found that Pākehā desire for land remained. In the last decades of the century, most iwi lost substantial amounts of land through the activities of the Native Land Court. Due to its Eurocentric rules, the high fees, its location remote from the lands in question, and unfair practices by some Pākehā land agents, its main effect was to allow Māori to sell their land without restraint from other tribal members. The effects of disease, as well as war, confiscations, assimilation and intermarriage, land loss leading to poor housing and alcohol abuse, and general disillusionment, caused a fall in the Māori population from around 86,000 in 1769 to around 70,000 in 1840 and around 48,000 by 1874, hitting a low point of 42,000 in 1896. Subsequently, their numbers began to recover. Self-government, 1850s In response to increased petitioning for self-governance from the growing number of British settlers, the British Parliament passed the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852, setting up a central government with an elected General Assembly (Parliament) and six provincial governments. The General Assembly did not meet until 24 May 1854, 16 months after the Constitution Act had come into force. Provinces were reorganised in 1846 and in 1853, when they acquired their own legislatures, and then abolished with effect in 1877. The settlers soon won the right to responsible government (with an executive supported by a majority in the elected assembly). But the governor, and through him the Colonial Office in London, retained control of native policy until the mid-1860s. Farming and mining The Māori tribes at first sold the land to the settlers, but the government voided the sales in 1840. Now only