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Observer, Volume XI, Issue 707, 16 July 1892, Page 18

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There is a certain , Philpian flavour about the following which is difficult to disguise. It is from the Bulletin : Land buying from the natives in the good old Maoriland days was profiUblp, but risky. As the lands were held on the communal principle, it was necessary to obtain the signatures of a whole tribe pre a tirl» -certificate could be securer] for thp smallest block. Frequently thp fact of one or two tato'ned old chieftains refusing to sign wauld cause the purchase of land on which thousands of pounds had been advanced, to remain incomplete for years — sometimes until the death of the malcontents removed the obstacle. Hon. John Sheehan, a thorough Maori linguist, and the first, native born pakeha to occupy a seat in M.L. Parliampnt, was a most successful signature-setter. His private secretary, a dry old Scotch pressman named Carrick, used to tell of his experience with Shpehan on a land- buying expedition t.n the Waikato frontier, ' Naethin' but whusky an' rum for four blessed days ! No beesness at a. Hunnerds o' Moories aboofc and a' o' them hiccuping ' kapai Sheehan ' all ower the toonsbup. Then Sheehan cam' to me wi' a wink o' his cc' an' says ' Noo's oor timp. 1 an' a' that day he kept me twustin' roon' a zoetrope—one o' them whurligigs wi' pictures ontil them— to mak' the niggers pleasant, an', sirs, he kept singin' them ' The night that Larry was stretched,' awhiles whuppin' oot his parchment an' gettin' signatures like one-o'clock. We pit the whole block through that day.' Poor Sheehan, who drank himself to death before he was forty, was one of thereadiest-witted of men. Struck full on the breast with a stale egg at a hostile election meeting, he remarked without a quiver and with a reassuring smile that almost conveyed the idea that he accepted the malodorous attention as a compliment, ' Gentlemen, I like a good, strong, healthy opinion, even when it takes the form of rotten eggs.'

Mr A.. Rama Pama... 12 months E.D.. Kuaotunu (2 copies) 3 „ G.H.R., Pakiri 3 Miss J. MoD., Upper Kuaotunu 3 '„ G.H.G., TVTangapai ...'. 3 J.R.,TeKuiti 3 „ .T.C.. care of N. J.C., Waipu ... 6 „ Te Kopuru Library 3 „ E. 8.. A.ratapu 12 „ T?. A. P., Port Albert..... 3 „ M C.8., Masterton 3 P.E.H., Drnry 3 „