As a metaphor this is "the members being born of the same womb", and "conveys the idea of growth, indicating that a hapū is capable of containing many whānau.
In the four-year period between the census and the register, all the hapū had grown significantly—at a time when popular opinion had it that the Māori population was in decline.
[8] These population gains were at a time when the iwi had land confiscated by the government for their support of various anti-government movements.
Before the arrival of Pākehā, the normal day-to-day operating group in Māori society seems to have been the smaller whānau.
The larger hapū could work more effectively to produce surplus flax, potatoes, smoked heads and pigs in exchange for blankets, tobacco, axes and trade muskets.
[citation needed] In the period of the Musket Wars (1807–1842) many of the battles involved fighting between competing hapū rather than different iwi.