In February, the Native Contingent became part of the New Zealand Pioneer Battalion. They adopted a new set of badges - a cap badge and two smaller versions which were worn on the collar. The badges were voided brass with a fern wreath frame surmounted by the head of a Māori warrior. The letters 'NZ' and two crossed weapons are inside the frame. There is a base scroll with the word 'Pioneers'.
They were joined by the 2nd Native Contingent (who arrived in Egypt in October 1915), the Otago Mounted Rifles and later, the 3rd Māori Contingent. The Pioneer Battalion was sent to the Western Front in a support role - tasked with digging trenches, building roads and setting up lines for communication. They were often at the front line and continued to see heavy casualties.
Men from the Cook Islands joined the New Zealand Battalion as members of the 3rd Māori Contingent. They wore a version of this badge with an abbreviated version of 'Cook Islands Company' on the base scroll.
Offers of men from the Cook Islands and also from Niue were accepted by the Native Contingent Committee when quotas for enlistment could not be met. The Committee, made up of Maui Pomare (chairman and also Minister for the Cook and Other Islands), Apirana Ngata (Eastern Māori MP, Pita Te Rangihīroa (Northern Māori MP), Taare Parata (Southern Māori MP)and Timi Kara (General MP for Gisborne), had over-estimated the support and capacity of Māori to fulfill the recruitment and re-enforcement quotas.
Not all iwi leaders supported the call to sign up. Western Māori MP Pomare failed to win support from his own electorate. Waikato, who suffered invasion and large land confiscation in the 19th century, actively discouraged enlistment, while publicly adopting a neutral stance to avoid persecution under wartime regulations. Conscription with Pomare's prompting was directed towards Waikato-Maniapoto men in 1917. 'Te Ope Tauatahi', the famous recruitment song, specifically honours those tribes who willingly provided fighting men.
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