Raupo Houses Ordinance

The Raupo Houses Ordinance, sometimes called the Raupo Houses Act, was made on 3 March 1842 and is regarded as New Zealand's first building legislation. It targeted the fire risk of houses built from raupō (bulrush) and other plant materials, which were cheap and quick to build, resembled traditional Māori housing, and burned easily.

What it did

The ordinance allowed the governor to proclaim it in any town, or part of a town, where it was needed to reduce fire risk. Where it applied, it imposed an annual tax of £20 on buildings made wholly or partly of raupō, nīkau, toetoe, wīwī, kākaho, straw or thatch, and a fine of £100 for building such a house after the ordinance took effect.

Where it applied

• Auckland: proclaimed in May 1842.
• Wellington: on 9 November 1842 a fire that began in a thatched raupō bakehouse spread in a north-west wind and destroyed about 57 buildings, including all of Kumutoto Pā. The town council asked for the ordinance, which took effect on 30 March 1843.
• Dunedin and Port Chalmers (February 1850), Lyttelton (1850), Christchurch (1852) and New Plymouth (1857). In New Plymouth a gale destroyed many thatched houses before the ordinance took effect, and in 1858 a new Thatch and Straw Building Ordinance reduced the fine to £20.

Raupō dwellings in the Wellington pā at Pipitea and Te Aro were not taxed, and Kawau Pā in New Plymouth was initially exempt.

Effect on roofing

The ordinance was not aimed at Māori, and most Māori housing lay outside its reach. Raupō remained common for some time: an 1849 census of the Auckland area found it made up almost a third of European housing, with Howick having 180 raupō houses and 50 weatherboard houses. From the late 1850s the share fell as sawn timber, brick and stone became more available, and by 1878 only 0.55% of non-Māori dwellings nationwide were raupō. In the same period, timber shakes and shingles and then corrugated iron took over as the main roof coverings. The ordinance was repealed in 1878 under the Repeals Act.

Significance

The law is an early example of fire-driven roofing regulation, comparable to earlier restrictions on thatch in European towns and to the later outlawing of timber shingles in New Zealand towns.