the loss of Māori cultural identity, and sponsored the Tohunga Suppression Act of 1907 which led to loss of many oral traditions. While Pōmare and Ngata agreed on the need to modernise Māori living conditions, Pōmare did not share Ngata's drive to preserve and protect traditional Māori culture and arts—instead Pōmare believed that, eventually, Pākehā and Māori would merge to form a single culture incorporating the best aspects of both (a common ideal of his iwi). Member of Parliament In the 1911 election, Pōmare stood for the House of Representatives as an Independent in the Western Maori electorate that covered the western part of the North Island from Wellington to just south of Auckland, plus the east coast from Tauranga north. Aided by support from the "Māori King", Mahuta Tāwhiao, he was successful, displacing the incumbent Henare Kaihau. He was aligned with the new Reform Party that had won the largest number of seats. When the party formed a government, Pōmare was appointed in July 1912 to Cabinet as a minister without portfolio, a largely symbolic position. Pōmare was quite popular with his party—in part this is likely because he did not promote an independent Māori cultural identity and that fitted well with the Reform Party's generally conservative views. (Meanwhile, Pōmare's old friend, Āpirana Ngata, was serving as an MP for the opposition Liberal Party.) Taranaki land negotiation In 1881 the crown had set aside 187,000 acres for Taranaki Maori "absolutely and for all time", by 1911 only 18,000 acres remained and it was being leased to settlers on the behalf of Maori, although in an act of defiance of land confiscation, local Maori never claimed the rent. Both Waikato and Taranaki elected Māui Pōmare as the member for Western Maori to ensure this 18,000 acres would not become freehold settler property in perpetuity. In 1913 Pōmare attempted to appease both his people and pakeha settlers by extending the lease settlers currently had for a further 10 years after which it would revert to Maori ownership – provided they pay compensation to settlers for appreciation in value. In 1923 Maori reclaimed their 18,000 acres but Pōmare had converted the land from leasehold to freehold, something his people were woefully unprepared to deal with. Overwhelmed by a system they didn't understand the Maori sold back to the Pakeha settlers who now had this last 18,000 acres in perpetuity. Late in the