Conscription was extended to Māori for the "Native Contingent" in late 1917, with the first "Māori ballot" for the Waikato district held in May 1918. There was resistance in the Waikato (led by Princess Te Puea) to conscription. By the end of the war 552 Māori had been balloted, but no Māori conscripts had been sent overseas. A total of 2,227 Māori served in the war; this represented about 4.5% of the Māori population or under half of the total contribution per head of the total New Zealand population.
