17 May 1850 Friend, Governor, Greetings. I have great respect for you. This is a letter from your good friends, from Rawiri Rauponga, Hopa Te Roro and Panapa Porutu. It is a letter from your good friends who join in with [the view of] Rewiri and Te Paranihi about Waitara, that the land be given as a home for you. Because it has been taken by the people who are living on the land, this is the reason we totally agree, even though someone may oppose this letter, no. Listen, this is the issue over Waitara. I must tell you in case someone says Waitara is his alone; it is rather that this land, Waitara, is mine. And listen to the reason for that. Puponga whose land this was, was the mother of Waitara[?], and her husband was Wakamaerorangi, and the basis for Waitara is his child, Ngarue, and Ngarue's progeny are us; his sister was Rangiroa, and the descendants of Rangiroa are our ancestors, and so there is us. Suffice these matters. But this is the issue, friend, Governor, strive for your land at Waitara. And another matter: we have not seen the documents of the land in relation to the right over the area or a part of it, and so we can not write to you of it in this letter. That is all we have to say, and so conclude. From Rawiri Rauponga, Hopa Te Roro and Panapa Porutu To Governor Eyre, Port Nicholson