MP’s East Cape ties ‘very broad’

National Party MP Paul Goldsmith might not be Ma¯ori, but his heritage shows he has a lot of wha¯nau on the East Cape, with his ancestor seen as being the “father of more children than any other early trader”. Goldsmith’s great-great-grandfather, Charles George Goldsmith, arrived in the area from Liverpool in the 1840s. He had four wives — two Ma¯ori (Nga¯ti Porou), and two Pa¯keha¯ — and fathered 16 children.

This wide heritage may have been where the confusion lay on Tuesday, when the party’s newly appointed deputy leader, Nikki Kaye, said the Epsom-based MP was “obviously of Nga¯ti Porou”, when defending the diversity of their shadow Cabinet. Goldsmith quickly corrected the mixup. “I make it quite clear, I am not Ma¯ori myself,” he said.

“The Goldsmith family have many connections to Nga¯ti Porou. My greatgreat-grandfather had European wives and Ma¯ori wives so I’ve got lots of relatives across the Nga¯ti Porou but I don’t claim to be Ma¯ori myself.” Goldsmith said he had never shied from his history — in fact he referred to his ancestor, the first in his family to settle in the country, in his maiden parliamentary speech back in 2011. “He was a typical big-hearted pioneer, and a trader, and over the 50 years or so he lived in New Zealand he had four wives — two Nga¯ti Porou and two Pa¯keha¯ — and 16 children,” he said at the time. “That is the sort of spirit that built this nation.” Goldsmith, born and raised in Auckland, told the Herald he had a lot of East Coast ties through his ancestor. “Almost anybody from the East Cape has some kind of connection, it is very broad.” That broad connection includes many Nga¯ti Porou whanaunga. Victor Goldsmith, CEO of Te Runanganui o Te Aupouri, says he shares the same ancestor as the National MP, but through the line of Charles Goldsmith’s second wife, Makere. “He was well respected by Ma¯ori — he even had the wives to prove it,” Victor Goldsmith said.