PAYING OVER THE MONEY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2818, 18 March 1908, Page 47

PAYING OVER THE MONEY.

The final act was that of payment. Many of the earlier purchases of land by the New Zealand Company were paid for in goods, and complaint was made, and perhaps reasonably so, that the Maoris did not get the real price that had been agreed 'upon. As, however, the Maoris afterwards' repudiated many of their agreements to sell, it was perhaps as well for the company that they had not paid out coin of the realm in the first instance. With regard to the Otago block, however, blankets, pipes, or tomahawks formed no part of the quid pro quo. The agreed-upon price, £2400, was paid in bank notes, gold, silver. " The largest

proprietor," 6ays Dr Hocken's narrative, " was Tuawhaiki, who received £900, together with £300 for division amongst his Taieri and Molyneux friends. Taiaroa and Karetai received £300 each, and the remaining £600 was divided among6t the other Otago Natives. An eye-witness told Dr Hocken that Colonel Wakefield penetrated the bustling crowd in every direction, freely distributing half-crowns and shillings, and even sixpences amongst the women and children. All were perfectly satisfied and in high good humour. Any little difference or misunderstanding •was. ably adjusted by that clever Maori, Tuawhaiki, wiho lost his life in November of the same year whilst piloting his boat, acquired with the purchase money for his land, through a tempestuous sea off Moeraki.