EARLY OTAGO HISTORY

Feilding Star, Volume 9, Issue 3793, 10 August 1932, Page 6

EARLY OTAGO HISTORY

SITE OF THE POST OFFICE Purchase from the maukis A remark by tlie Mayor of Dunedin to ttie ettect that the site of tho Dunedin P-t-t office was part of the Otago blocs uriginally sold to tho bovenauint i\,r .a song bri gs to mind tlie fact tk.it. i~o transaction tojk place on July 31, 184-1, 8S years ago. It was out the teach of Port Chalmers (then known as Kopuwi). Representative Maoris to the number of 1-50 sold the block to Colcinel Wakefield for £2-100 paid in cash. H jcke n’ s history records that T'uawliaiki Hist signed the deed, then Karetai, Taiaroa, and 22 otilers. Tho signatures were witnessed bv Messrs r Syniotid, Tuekett, Clarke and Scott. The final act was the payment. This time no blankets, no pipes, no tomahawks formed any part of tho quid pro quo; it consisted of bank notes, gold and silver. Colonel Wakefield penetrated the bustling crowd, freely distributing half-crowns, shillings, and even sixpences among the worn on and children.. All were satisfied and in high good humour. Tho blfck, of 400,000 eu-rev, had as boundaries Hayward's Point. Mill iwaka, FtagptatF. Maungatua, Kailiiku, and tilie Nuggets.