NATIVE LANDS COURT.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5830, 15 November 1880, Page 3

NATIVE LANDS COURT.

' .' : •:''.'' Sltubdat/ November 13.- | . (Before .Chief Judge Fenton,. Judge •' ' 'CJ'Briep, and the Native Assessor])- --,' . Re Pr/KEHAMOABIOAf .. I His Honor the Chief Judge deliyered the following judgment.;— " " ! We have carefully' considered ' this matter and haye arrived at . the fpllojwing 'conclusions. ! .There} are in re'alityj twe applications' before us^-one to detecraint the owners of land, the other to dete^mint the proportions' m'whTdh they jjugpt tc ' »haire the 1 estate. :r ?i^ ??*

Taking the ownership firat. We think the general tone of the evidence given by ;' Eaniera Te Ahiko was borne out by and explanatory of that given by the other ; witnesses. Taking his evidence' as to a [ great extent governing the case, we proceed to state what we gather from it. The.Oo.urt wag much impressed by the fact that he had himself se'eli ortfersojriaHy knejv most of the acters in tHd events narrated. We find that this block of land was part of a large estate which belonged in former days to Taraia. We believe that Pukehamoamoa was distinctly marked off as a portion for one of his daughters, Hineteao. This seems the more probable from the fact that Renata, who claims from Te Uamairangi did not niejition . Te Konomolsai (the son of Tarsia) even once in his evidence. Taking first then Hineteao -and her descendants, we find that they were at one time a very considerable tribe. The grandson of Taraia, Te Rangikanapanapa had four children, and these again had families. Indeed, the principal man of that time must have found himself surrounded by a considerable following. From some cause or other, which did not clearly appear frAni tho evidence, the numbers very rapidly declined. Hiki died without issue ; so also did Keriko. Puhia, the daughter of Keke, was taken prisoner by the Ngatiraukawa and went away altogether. Hinetoi disappeared among tho Ngatiporou, and her grandchild, Raiha Huare, only recently returned. As to the offspring of Hinepuawa and Nohinohi. we know nothing, except that each had a daughter, named respectively, Te Wao and Wharetawhai. These women had children, but they have all disappeared. •?Ah6ahb, Ria Tawhara and Kehewharangi, > all have died off without leaving issue. Of the original blood of Hineteao none survive but the grandchildren of Rarotawhana and of Ruka Takuao, the former being Hemi Nuku and HobepaTeUmurangi, and the latter Te Matetahuna, Hoeroa and Maihi (the children of Tibpira). The last named are the great grandchildren of Te Rakautawa, a person of some importance who was mentioned several times in the evidence. After a lapse of seven generations all that we find left are these five young people. At the period to which a great part of the evidence refers the branch of JSgatiteupokoiri inhabiting this part of the country appears, to have been in a very broken and unhappy state. There came amongst them Te Uamairangi and his son Tuhotoariki, who found, it would seem, none but women and youngsters. Tuhotoariki took to wife two of the women who owned this land. Of these women no .offspring have survived to this time. But, in a way which I never met with before, this intruder seems to have acquired the absolute chieftainship over the land and the people. I have been sitting for fifteen years in these Courts and have never known such a case before. I have seen land go by conquest or by force, or given away as a marriage portion j but in the latter case I have generally noticed that if the woman died without offspring the land reverted to the giver. Here, for the first time, we find the whole tribe absolutely agreeing to recognise this man and his offspring as 1 owners of the land on account of his marriage with these women. He seems ; to have continued to be their afiki, and they in return to have adopted him as head of the tribe ; and now by universal consent his title to the soil is ! admitted. The Court is bound to decide according ..to native custom, and when it finds a whole tribe agreeing to a certain state of things, however strange, the Court is bound to accept ib as the custom of tho tribe. We have then the descendants of j Hineteao, whose names have been mentioned. Now we have to find out the people who owned the land aa descendants from Te Oamairangi. We do not recognise Tuhotoariki aa the origin of the title. We believe that Te Uamairangi was the principal intruder. He evidently exercised great authority and once killed a man on the land. We find that his descendants are, first and foremost, Ani Kanara, the direct grand-daughter of Tuhotoariki. Probably if Te Whanikau had been alive we should not have had this investigation ; but- 'he died many years ago. Then we find that the sister of Tuhotoariki, MataTe Hei, has a direct descendant in Arapera Te Rangitiaki, and in- the two other grand-daughters, the .children of Hera Riki, namely Harata Hetariki and Atareta Hetariki. From Pakapaka another daughter of Te Uamairangi, we have Renata Xawepo, another representative of Tuhotoariki,. and Haromi Te Ata, a niece of Renata Kawepo,. and granddaughter of Pakapaka, the sister of Tuhotoariki. These are the owners of the land according to our view. Here comesin another consideration. We find that this tribe had been in very unpleasant circumstances. It had been attacked'by the v IST gatikahungnnu, by the Ngatituwharetoa, by the Natiraukawa, by the Waika'to, by the Arawa, and finally Tareha had brought down the Ngapuhi , against them. When Renata was absent at the North, a prisoner with the Ngapuhi, his people had almost ceased to existi as a tribe. That I have gathered from Tareha's long address as well as from other sources. Renata came back. By his energy and determination he reestablished his people. We find him active on all aides. And the impression made- on my mind is that almost the existence of his people, at any rate their as a tribe, is due to the energy and character of Rfinata Kawepo. It would ill become the Court to overlook a circumstance of that kind. In those evil days, when' strength was law, the principal men gave their energies and risked their lives to protect the younger people ; and if the younger generation expect now to be placed on an; absolutely 'equaHooting with the old chiefs, that is a proposal this Court will never sanction. The Courb is here to discover titles and to determine according to native custom. It ia no part of its duty to degrade in any way the status or diminish the influence of the old chiefs. It cannot be urged that this Court was created for the purpose of breaking up the tribes and establishing a spurious democracy. We think .it extremely likely thai 'but for RenataV energy many of those now coming forward as his opponents would have had no existence. -. Speaking generally, it is a matter of extreme pain to me to see these splits in ■ haptis. • When I remember the authority and dignity of the Maori chiefs in the old days — the absolute sway they enjoyed, the • power of life and death, the right of private warfare and of remedying personal wrongs according to their own idea of what was just — while admitting that such a state , of society could not exist alongside of civilisation, I consider it the duty '' of the Court to maintain, as far as consistent with the present social organization, the dignity and rights of these old chiefs. Therefore, considering all these circumstances, we find that Renata Kawepo is entitled to very great consideration. But here comes the difficulty, as Dr Buller has asked us to define the shares. If we had nothing but ancestral descent to consider we could easily do what is required ; .80 also" if it were a mere matter of acquisition by conquest. But when we are called on to reduce to arithmetical terms the value of the military services rendered by Renata aE head of his people, that is a calculation far beyond our capacity. We have nc data on which to form our estimate. Ii the tribe cannot settle an abstract mattei [. [like this among themselves, it is one . which we cannot undertake. We fee! 3 that if we did attempt ifc we should be sc , liable to do an injustice that we mus' , absolutely decline the responsibility. W< 3 therefore refuse to split up this estate 9 .Wehave carefully considered the matter ■> and, under the existing circumstances r we have .determined to prohibit th<

alienation of this laud for tho present. We think we may allow it to be leased for a term of years ; but unless the owners can agree as to tho shares, we have decided on making the land inalienable during the lifetime of Renata. After that the Court can consider the matter furfcW. An order was then made in favor of Renata Kawepo find the eleven others named above, in unequal shared, the application for partition being refused ; the estate to be absolutely inalienable except by lease for 21 years, without fine, premium or foregift, the rent to the payable half-yearly. The pieces claimed by ftanievft and Noa Hnlie to be cnt out and left for future investigation. The certificate to issue as sqon as • the map (to be altercd ; acc{frdingly) has been approved by the Chief Judge. Dr Duller on Renata's behalf, applied that the surveyor,, who happened to b.e in Court, should be directed to mark off the excluded portions 011 the map forthwith, so as to expedite the issue of the certificate, and this was accordingly clone. v Raniera and Noa Huke were' then allowed^ to address the Court "on their respective claims to these portions. The former said that all the other witnesses were mere children .in his eyes ; and Noa rested his title on'the fait that a female ancestor was buried at Te Awahuri, in compliance with her dying request " Bury me within hearing of the Rangitahi waterfall." Renata Kawepo expressed his thanks to the Court and his satisfaction with the judgment. Laacellea and Cornford, appearing for the two claimants, Te Muera and Ani Kanara, asked the Court to proceed with a subdivision of interests in this block, in pursuance of section 11 of the Native Lands Act, 1878. Te Muera was called and stated the nature of the claim. T)v Buller; who appeared for Renata Kawepo, opposdd the partition oh the ground that the title was analagous to Pukehamoamoa and involved the same abstract considerations. The Court adjourned the matter till Wednesday next at 2 p.m.