land councils. He retained this position until 1912, when the Liberal government was defeated. Ngata followed the Liberals into Opposition. In the First World War, Ngata was highly active in gathering Māori recruits for military service, working closely with Reform Party MP, Maui Pomare. Ngata's own Ngāti Porou were particularly well represented among the volunteers. The Māori commitment to the war by some iwi, can be attributed to Ngata and Pomare and this created a certain amount of goodwill from Pākehā towards iwi who had loyally supported the country; this assisted Ngata's later attempts to resolve land grievances. Although in Opposition, Ngata enjoyed relatively good relations with his counterparts across the House in the Reform Party. He had a particularly good relationship with Gordon Coates, who became Prime Minister in 1925 and later Princess Te Puea of Waikato. The establishment of several government bodies, such as the Māori Purposes Fund Control Board and the Board of Māori Ethnological Research, owed much to Ngata's involvement. Māori interests Ngata was also active in a huge variety of other endeavours. The most notable, perhaps, was his involvement in academic and literary circles – in this period, he published a number of works on significant Māori culture, with , a collection of Māori songs, being one of his better known works. Ngata was also heavily involved in the protection and advancement of Māori culture among Māori themselves, giving particular attention to promoting the haka, poi dancing, and traditional carving that had been begun by Te Puea. In 1926 Ngata spearheaded government legislation which established the School of Māori Arts that later became the New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute. The school was to preserve Māori arts and crafts amongst fears the skills and knowledge would be lost forever. One aspect of his advocacy of Māori culture was the construction of many new traditional meeting houses throughout the country. Yet another of Ngata's interests was the promotion of Māori sport, which he fostered by encouraging intertribal competitions and tournaments. Finally, Ngata also promoted Māori issues within the Anglican Church in New Zealand, encouraging the creation of a Māori bishopric. In December 1928, Frederick Bennett, was consecrated as suffragan bishop to the Waiapu diocese with the title Bishop of Aotearoa. Ngata and Bishop Herbert Williams campaigned for the recognition of Māori language as a subject for study in the University of New Zealand, with the