Other formats

    Adobe Portable Document Format file (facsimile images)   TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

An Epitome of Official Documents Relative to Native Affairs and Land Purchases in the North Island of New Zealand

No. 6. — Mr. Commissioner Hay to the Chief Commissioner

page 331

No. 6.
Mr. Commissioner Hay to the Chief Commissioner.

Thames—Reporting on certain Native Claims referred to him. Koupu, 13th June, 1858.

Sir,—

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of letters dated 9th January, 1858, and 2nd February, 1858, delivered to me yesterday on my return from the Piako. In reply to letter bearing date 9th January, containing copies of letters from Te Hoterene and Wharerurutu to the effect that Kohatuanoa should not be sold, I trust the report enclosed in this will be sufficient. In regard to letter dated 2nd February, 1858, enclosing copies of letters from Ngatai and others with sketch of land offered by them—Opukeko Te Papa, on the River Waiho, and from Mataora to Waihi, on the sea coast—I have to observe that, in September or October, 1858, the same block was offered by Ngatai, though the sea coast was not taken in at that time, This offer was made verbally after I had refused to negotiate for a block called Te Mata, near Te Putu, Taraia's settlement. I refused to have anything to do with Te Mata, knowing that Teuriwha tribe and Ngatitamatera were all concerned in it, telling Ngatai at the same time that if he could get the consent of Taraia, Te Auhe, and others, I would attend to it, letting him know also I was aware he would have but a small share, when Te Papa was proposed instead. Knowing that he only owned the actual site of the Pah of Opukeko, and, to the best of my knowledge, not a thousand acres acres at Te Papa, I again referred Ngatai to the Ngatitamatera, the tribe living on the land, the Whakatohea, and Ngatikoi; I offered to go with him and hear what the Natives would say, but, when I called at his settlement on the Wairoa, he was either going to Auckland, or out of the way. I would strongly recommend the Government not to advance any money on land offered by Ngatai or Hoete, but I suppose, from the time that has elapsed (nearly four months), and from Maori reports, the money has been advanced.

With the exception of the two trifling bits of land owned by Ngatai, not an acre is owned by any of those Natives named in the copies of letters forwarded to me. I refer, of course, to the River Waihou on the present occasion; in fact, amongst the whole of the Ngatipaoa tribe, Hoera and Peneamene, who rank first amongst the heirs of Wiremu Kingi (Te Huru), are the only claimants on this river. Peneamene is claiming conjointly with Paora Te Putu in the block offered by Ngatai and Hoete; there are seven or eight claimants owning ten times as much land, and of equal if not higher rank than himself (Ngatai); besides these a host of minor claims larger than his, though the owners may be called slaves by him. This attempt on the part of Ngatai and Hoete to obtain money under false pretences has done more to stop the sale of land than the united influence of all the Natives who have opposed it in this district.

I had intended to have negotiated for (after obtaining the sanction of the Government) a block nearly five times the size of that offered by Ngatai and Hoete, and I believe that I should have had comparatively little difficulty, large blocks being cheaper from the Native, attention being drawn to the large amount offered, and not to the division of the price by the number of acres. They offer also the advantage of being surveyed for the most part trigonometrically; but the feeling now is so strong that for the present none of the land supposed by the Natives to have been meddled with by Ngatai and Hoete can be got. I shall be able, I believe, to work on the west bank of the river. I enclose a letter from Te Whewheratauwaru with respect to land in the Thames Valley.

I have, &c.,

G. C. Drummond Hay,
District Commissioner.

Donald McLean, Esq.,
Chief Commissioner.