THE TARANAKI QUESTION.

3

E—No. 2

assured to them " full, exclusive and undisturbed possession of their lands and other properties which they may collectively or individually possess, so long as it is their pleasure to retain the same." This Tribal right is clearly a right of property, and it is expressly recognised and protected by the Treaty of Waitangi. That Treaty neither enlarged nor restricted the then existing rights of property. It simply left them as they were. At that time, the alleged right of an individual member of a Tribe to alienate a portion of the land of the Tribe was wholly unknown (8). The rights which the Natives recognised as belonging thenceforward to the Crown were such rights as were necessary for the Government of the Country, and for the establishment of the new system. We called them " Sovereignty" ; the Natives called them " hawanatanga" " Governorship." This unknown thing, the " Governorship," was in some degree defined by a reference to its object. The object was expressed to be "to avert the evil consequences which must result from the absence of Law." To the new and unknown Office they conceded such powers, to them unknown, as might be necessary for its due exercise. To themselves they retain what they understood full well, the " tino Rangitiratanga" "full Chiefship," in respect of all their lands (9). These rights of the Tribes collectively, and cf the Chiefs have been since that time solemnly and repeatedly recognised by successive Governors (10), not merely by words but by acts. For, through the Tribes and through the exercise of the Chiefs' power and influence over the Tribes, all the cessions of iand hitherto made by the Natives to the Crown have been procured (11). ll.— The Waitara Purchase. 1. The Valley of the Waitara River lies about 10 miles to the Northward of the Town of New Plymouth, in the Province of Taranaki, and about 4 miles beyond the Noithern boundary of the land settled by the English. Previously to the year 1827, the Waitara valley and considerable tracts, both North and South of the valley, were occupied by the Ngatiawa Tribe. They held it by unbroken descent from remote ancestors. " About the year 1827, part of the Tribe migrated to the Northern side of Cook's Strait, (Waikanae, and the neighbourhood,) being desirous of trading with the European vessels which were beginning , to visit those parts(l2.) William King's father was the leader of the party. 2. About 1830, the Waitara and a large tract of country to the Southward of it was over-run by an invasion from Waikato. A large pa of the Ngatiawa, Pukerangiora, 4or 5 miles up the Waitara valley on the Southern side of the river, was stormed with great slaughter. Of those who escaped, the greater part fled to Cook's Strait to join their brethern. A few, about fifty or sixty, found a refuge in the Sugar Loaf Rocks, near the site of the present town of New Plymouth. It is said that the Waikato invadera intended to occupy the land which they had over-run—that a partition amongst the conquering Chiefs was actually made immediately after the conquest, and the boundaries marked. But it is quite certain that such intention was never carried out. '1 he Waikato invaders did not occupy or cultivate the Waitara valley(l3). The refugees in other places, wheresoever they were scattered, never abandoned their claim or their intention of resuming possession of the land of their fathers. One instance of this feeling is recorded by Colonel Wakefield. " The Natives here (Queen Charlotte's Sound) some of the ancient possessors of Taranaki, are very desirous that I should become the purchaser of that district, in order that they may return to their native place without fear of the Waikato tribes (14). {Journal, 2nd Nov. 1839.) Another instance occurred about the year 1842, when Te Pakaru, one of the Waikato invaders, proceeded to the Waitara for the purpose of taking possession, and commenced felling timber. William King sent a deputation from Waikanae to warn him off; upon which, Te Pakaru withdrew and returned to Waikato (15). 3. In 1841, the settlement called New Plymouth, was planted. The circumstances are thus stated by Mr. F. A. Carringtou, formerly Chief Surveyor of that Settlement,) in a letter to the Earl of Shaftesbury, dated New Plymouth, 12th July, 1858. (Taranaki Land Question, p. 9.) " I arrived in New Zealand in December of that year [1840], and after conferring with Colonel Wakefield, the Agent of the New Zealand Company, and having explored several hundred miles of the coast of the Northern and Middle Islands, I finally selected the Taranaki district, now known as New Plymouth for the Company's settlement. Prior to this, however. Agents of the New Zealand Company landed on the coast and treated with the resident aboriginal inhabitants— the only people then occupying the country —agreed with them as to price, and paid them in part for the land." " Quickly it became known to the Waikatos that white people were settling in this part of New Zealand; ther. some two hundred of them made a descent on the country, put forth their claim to the land, and, in the name of their Chief, threatened to occupy it. This threat was averted by Governor Hobson purchasing from them their rights and claims to this territory. In 1841, Potatau (then commonly called Tewherowhero,) received, Iα satisfaction of the claim of his Tribe, money and goods to the amount of about £500. 4. The fear of a second invasion being , now removed, the refugees began to re-occupy the land. Many disputes arose between them and the settlers who claimed under the New Zealand Company, In 1844, the Laud Claims Commissioner, Mr. Spain investigated the New Zealand Company's title, and reported in favour of it, recommending that a Crown Grant should be issued to the Company to the extent of their claims. Mr. Spain had assumed that the enslaved or fugitive members of the Ngatiawa Tribe had, by their captivity or absence; lost all claim to the land. This doctrine was denied by the Governor's Chief Adviser in Native Affairs, Mr. Clarke, then Chief Protector of Aborigines. The Governor acted od the opinion of Mr. Clarke, Accordingly on the 3rd of August,