THE WAIRAU PURCHASE.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19918, 3 May 1930, Page 13

THE WAIRAU PURCHASE.

A LINK WITH CAPTAIN blenkinsopp.

(gi'ECULI/T WRITTEN TOR THE MESS.) ' ■ [By L. R. Palmer, M.A.]

<jse death recently at Blenheim, at '■ tte remarkablo age of 107. of liiliza- , jjujjj Bora recalls the part of her 4tfcer. Captain John Blenkins?opp, an • Mfy whaler, in tlie dispute over tho ■ -purchase of the vallev of the Walrau. |hii dispute is still one of the 'iffitricate and absorbing passages in ' " : S« W Zealand history, because it has 'uyfel> heen finally disposed of. It was :It» direct cai'se of the first big 'clash Nttirefn Maori and pakeha. known till rjikwis the "Wiairau Massacre.'' but vilich historians one day. viewing the faetS trlwe reasonable. will know by a vicious name. The claim of the tinier to tho Tflioln or part of the plain, aggregating many thousands o

mres, forrtts iiitcrestinp: sidelight. It i 4 irt 1832—the hey-day of the ivhdHng lhdustry—that Captain Joha Blenkinaopp 'fa ttrst revealed along the wast of NaW Zealand in his brig Caroline AS oi the tenders in the industry he fottftd whaling profitable, lint he also bad aßpirat.ons tor land. v.iahb ■ sfeair# • later Colonel \\ illiam Wakefield arrived in the Tory to found "Wellington and -to purchase certain tracts of land ah ttfent for the New Zehliiild Company. "He thought himis]£ the first white fflMi who had ever goalotl 4 deed of purchase to tho Wairau. but in this he had reckoned Without Blenk'insopp. Whether e«« Wakefield ever fcduglit the Wairati is a nice point of law iw yet unsettled, for the answer depends oil whether the other parties to tho rtsle really ever owned the land, Stfd this involves obscure considerations on tlte Maori laws of land tenure.

The Company's Purchase. , Wakefield himself, however, wis J Bit# sure of his ground. He went > qbasiderablo- pains to ascertain, as -fit {is could be, the rightful owners \ the land to which he wished to lay j ' Maim. This included the southern j>, ,p4rt of the North Island and all ot fitfae South Island as far south as the . jpfd parallel of latitude. He found w4t. these lands were occupied principally by four tribes-—the Kafia, Jfglitiawa Ngatirooowa, and Wanga- ' jitjl. Ite also discovered that Te Rau- ' :> {mraha claimed dominion in the Wai- ' tid and beyond by right of conquest, yVJjj&Viug warred on, the Maoris there :\, fllid virtually dispossessed them, j wakefield thus took the precaution of " executing one deed of purchase from £ T<t Rauparaha and his lieutenant Te 'y 'Hujjgihaeata, and "another from the • ' Sisjjbssessed chiefs themselves, many "" 04 whom still held a quasi-tenure of tl&ir lands. ft is also abundantly clear, though denied, that Wttkefifeld took Irable pains tb explairi to the his intent and the significance v action, but much of the subtrouble was to. arise through erent attitude of the chiefs at t times. When their covetous upon such treasures as douolo--4 guns and axes they were ready to deolare themselves 0 part with their land and to it of little value, but as events ed and they saw the land being by the pajtehfi they were just ir to assert that it was their possession and to jdsnv; that d ever agreed' to'.fefiH, In the and vacillating natWSr: mmd ay there vim almost ,a complete of any conception of the eignlof a contract as applied to ohtute of land. Wakefield's Three Deeda. irst deed, signed and sealed at Nicholson on September 27th,, WO this marks of sixteen chiefs Id Hind »« that viciiiity. To tho claims of th® rapacious lo sba, Wakefield made a Special to Kapiti Island to seal tbo dSed of purchase on October 889, Te Rauparaha and his tat, Te Rangibaeata, were sig--1 to this, as also *ere nine hiefa. The claims of the Ngajjd other tribes to the laud on ith. shore of Cools Strait, Intho Wairau, he sought to fexi bv the third deed of purJated Noverfibet Bth, 1839, and in part as follows: all mett by these presents, that we, understated •*)» Wgitlawa !Xflp*s, witting in (Jiiwn Charlottes pcjuw othtr Places both sides ot Cooke in New Zealand, havs th» day sqld M<t|w p»rt«d *it)i all <rtr rights, claim*, 1 and interest* ill 'h® lands tutameati, woods, bays, harbours, .«w*W, within certain m sbsll, b». ttuly dieoriHd in -9m de*o| er'iniirumjmt,. uiito William Wake.mM, E|s4 >f in trust, for the Governors, and Shareholders' of. the New t-- f Iftiiaad JAbA Co.. of Londbn, t!i*ir heiw, «ri, and asilgiis, fbr arer; . in tvfftojdariition ot hvHng received m a full i' -'m just p»ym«nt for tbo same. 10 single- , 1 ' wttlldd gtina t 8 double-barrelled rub*, 100 a 4 blankets, lOewt tvnd 2 quarters of tobacco, 1 tntuket*. 60 iron pots. 40 krgs of gun- ■.■ r .fbnrdtT t 9 ktigs.ot load «14ba, to cartouche . s6t*s, IQQ iotnabairka, 1 case pips, 3 dozen 20) txM, 10 adz»«, 1000 fidh-hook", - « ahlßs, tea y»Tda print, 10 dozen '. pcclrei baitdlWrehiefa, 2 dozen elates, 200 t>tneiUi 9 dgten looHng-gUesis, 3 doxon knives, -3 doseh pairs 9oi«»or», 2 . doiin eambs, jibs, bsads, 1 dozen shaving and .fwois, loOq flints, 13 jackets and " W u ? tF ott4 * r *» " cartridge papers and J* , * jttbaldi. f caaes soap—wnroh we lha afotesald duels dd harebjr acknowledge to ns frosn thß aforesaid ' "Wakeflbld waj Satisfied. Writing it his Journal of the precautions taken he •ays j

4!to^'rain a £ti!!wi' l t tojfWy to be ceded was Mi JJ°J ? nd the y Winttd &Jt uJ£°" h#d and told rfidi^Sf 'o® ®o»t *wt» of ft and that •.£V("i 2 te"'" " """"»• Ajjd again:

*'l conceive, that I have obtalried as safe ■n4 as binding a, title as )f the subject of the «5 r S e£ 2 had been a tingle acre and de- "!! ?f * CTee £ °* aiiotclwd tree; and it »uat bo remembered that nine-tenths of the land is without an inhabitant to dispute nosi f 9, *5P n ' and lhat the payment I have made Wn f" ».» '«*« *i*en valued by the * liS? i J 1 f xei »?gf known amonj them. «M la perfectly satisfactory to the Wlfcre, ifm'tf , tf "« taada pre- - vJ!22i 7 ■ M'e if the rißlghbour- '• the ? twit y 'orblgMrt, they are, ' ' J iuh thV a vUwim° *H Si^ lficant 40 tteai »,mS!rtl» tHe v Co »P®nr- Hefe and ■ Wiyinay have been purchased ' ,'t2» niilfi °? in Cloudy Bay and , -M® Soandi but no extensive ' district has ■' &« WbS"»L 0 ? ther l y ,, the Kafla "or NgSu! •i - Knt *2* ,n "? y be,lef no "salar agree- " bk 1m? i ">«4e on any occasion, and, ''""£ns?deLft?\ o . ooUpatl ,° n ot «hia kind no 'ti f. s eeu * iv 6n tot the land. ,1} •*,' the vessels n6w arriving fr<Jm %* fi 18 j 39 .' deoclH ttro brotiglit to ft]? • " «if?ned in consequence <5 the 3fv i»t Jw" R a< "? u,re<t * marketable value; tim « ma ? "mo when a EHgTPW BhaU •* amine the titles to the iL th,s ? i aI *nda. it will be found that S~"wXJ^ W| i ltte P r « cor<l ß of purchases prior i 8 d *'« o' »ny portion of land If M prtdttced^ Ull ° m? parchßßa con fe - UOB ' ■ ■ lift;?. BlenfcUisopp's Document. here he was mistaken. In his infubterfage to obtain a title, to f#S* , ■ u ' B, ® nki n«oi>P was aided by liiSit'fc- association with the Natives, the year 1832 he had entered fiilKPffi alliance with a daughter of tbo BSSHrayellea-eitief .Te Paki, this givn _, ln ® ueI '«e with Te, Bangihaeata i P . araba * A y ear or two later into a bargain with Te

Rauparaha, the spirit of which was to alio-# him to proctore wood and water for his ship while at Cloudy Bay. A document was drawn up, and in consideration of tbo rights afforded him Blenkinsopp gave Te Rauparaha an old cannon which he first carefully spiked. Ignorant of the contents of the deed, Te Rauparaha signed, only to find that he had contracted to sell the Wairau all for a ship's cannon. He flew into a great rage (so it is narrated), tore up the documents, atid burnt the fragments. The cannon, known/by the Maoris as "the gun that makes the earth tremble," and also as "the gun that ploughs the ground," he left in disgust on the shore at Guard's Bay. It was brought to Bletihtoiih later by Captain Scott, of p.s.s. Lytteltdn, and was used to fire the Royal salute in Blenheim on the occasion of the. South African peace celebrations. For many years now it has been displayed in the Blenheim Gardeasj before that it was kept in front Of the Institute Buildings in Alfred ttmt, Wakefield, at no time, could have been seriously threatened by Blenkinsopp's pseudo-agreement, nor could he have had any faith in its validity. Hq was prepared however to try to extinguish it. In December, 1839, when he fltst visited Hokianga, he fbund there a Maori woman whom he described as Mrs Blenkinsopp, a widow, and from her he bought the Wairau ence again. Writing in his Journal on December l3tfi, 1839, he describes the incident tfiuss

.J have purchased from Mis Blenkinsopp, widjw of Captain Blenkinsopp, whom I liavo previously mentioned at having bought Wftir®» (sic) and othet property jn Cloudy Bay all the risl}t4 and claims to the B&me. This completes ttie Company's title to that part of the South Island, and is' of importance as the finest district thereabout*, and connetted With Haikoro (sic) and the Lookeraott, which has been reported as a h3tbour."

He had however, either accidentally or by design, bwn deceived, for it Was subsequently discovered that the documents were only topics of the originals, which ware held in Sydney by 6 Mr Unwin, a lawyer to whom Blenkinsotop had mortgaged his supposed New Zealand estate. When the enquiry into tlie Wairau purchase opened in Nelsott after the tragedy, the Company's agent, Captain Arthur Wakefield, never produced Blerikinßopp's deed, for he had learnt already that it Was a fake Attempt to Settle Land. S4r T. Lindsay Bulck, in "Old Marlborough" asserts that Blenkinsopp wade some preparations to settle on his Wairau lands, but that death intervened. It is clear, however, that TJnwin,' Blenkinsopp's lawyer and mortgagor, pursued the claim. There was in existence a dopy of an indenture made in Sydney on April 4th, 1840, between Unwin and a man named George Baldie, whom, with his family, Unwin engaged to work on the supposed estate. The party arrived in Cloudy Bay on the Hope, in 1840. The women stayed at Port Underwood while Ute men proceeded to the Wairau. In the course of one jotirney from the Wairau to Port Underwood the m<yi got as far as Te Rauparaha's pah on the river. What actually happened will never be fully kbowh. Th»j ffieii were never seen again, hut. the appearance of the MkoflS a few days latGr parading cloihes and other possessions of the men, gave reasonable cause for conjecture. History knowsthe tragedy, as the '' Massacre of the, Waitau Bar." There ended any claim which Blenkinsopp might have had to proprietorship in the Wairau, while Maori and pakeha were left to shed blood over it in a purposeless conflict which rooked the foundations of young New Zealand.