Seems to me finishing before drilling would do the trick, helping to
prevent slight tearout. I'm not familiar with kauri, is it a hardwood?
Brad point should work without tearout with the proper feed and speed.
Fast and Fast, I would think.
Literally hundreds of holes? I wouldn't want to drill that many without
a CNC machine! There are jigs you could set up on your drill press, if
one is available. Basically, a fence with a hinged block which holds a
pin that registers to a previous hole, for a line of evenly spaced
holes. I realize the holes are close, so you may have to drill the
first few before you get far enough away to use the jig.