THE TARANAKI QUESTION..

47

B—No. 2

portions claimed by each Chief had been gone through."—"l know," says the Eev. Mr. Buddie, " that a large party of the Waikato people belonging to the Ngatimaniapoto tribe under Niutone Te Pakaru, went to Waitara several years ago, and cleared a large piece of land there for cultivation in order to exercise their rights."—" lam decidedly of opinion," says the Key. Mr. Whiteley, " that Archdeacon Hadfield is wrong and that Mr. McLean is right. Certainly the Ngatimaniapoto came to Waitara and had a kainga and cultivations there.' , ! —"The title of the Waikatos [to Taranaki,] said Chief Protector Clarke in 1844, is good so far as they have taken possession."—"The land is ours," said the Waikato Chiefs in 1844 ; "we claim it by right of conquest, and some part of it by possession."—"But as some of the Waikato," says Mr. White, "under Kewi and others, were still cultivating in the vicinity (for the crops then in the ground) this was given as an excuse by Wiremu Kingi (1848) for asking Teira and Ihaia to be allowed to come over to the south side of Waitara river." Wiremu Nera Te Awaitaia, one of the greatest Waikato warriors, and next in rank as a Chief to Potatau Te Wherowhero, was one of the conquering party who made a partition of the land at Waitara, and struck a musket into the ground to denote the # boundary of what he intended ,to claim.

Note 14-. "In order that they may return to their Native place without fear of the Waikato tribes." (Page 3.) Sir W. Martin is quite right here. The Ngatiawas of Port Nicholson and Queen Charlotte 'Sound prayed Colonel Wakefield to buy the Taranaki District, in order that the presence of Europeans might be a security to them against the Waikatos. They accordingly sold the land in order to get the Europeans to settle there, and as soon as the -settlers went there they repudiated >fheir sale.

Note 15. " Another instance occurred about the year 1842." (P°g e 3.) This assertion is evidently made on the strength of a statement by the Eev. Riwai te Ahu, in his letter to the Superintendent of Wellington (page 9). But it is quite incorrect. Nuitone Te Pakaru (see Note No. 13) certainly had a large clearing at Waitara, as well as others of the Waikato invaders. The true cause of the return of these people to Waikato was not that " William King sent a deputation to warn them off:" it is given in the following extract from a Despatch of Acting Governor Shortland, dated 24th September, 1842 • "At Kawhia several Chiefs were introduced to His Ex- " cellency," among whom were the leaders of a recent expedition to Taranaki, at which place their " prestnce had created some alarm. On being asked what were their objects and intentions, they " explained that reports of the high prices given to the Natives of that place for provisions and labour " had reached them, and that considering the country theirs by conquest, they had resolved to settle "in the neighbourhood of the Europeans ; but that since Te Wherowhero had sold the land to the ■■" Queen, and they understood the Governor was not willing that they should remain, they had " returned." [Farl, Pap. 1844, Appendix to Keport of Select Committee, p. 189.]

Note 16. "On the 3rd August, 1844." " The Governor -publicly and officially.' 1, (Page 4.) This is the first time that it has been formally attempted to be maintained that a general ■tribal right in the Ngatiawa was allowed by Governor Fitzroy. It is true that the Governor disallowed Mr Spain's judgment, which awarded a grant for 60,000 acres to the New Zealand Company : but he certainly did not recognise a general tribal right in the Ngatiawa, for this would have given them rights which they had not before the Waikato conquest. The question then is, what he meant by allowing " in all their integrity" the claims of the Ngatiawa who had not been parties to the sale in 1840 ? It is very important to know exactly what Governor Fitzroy's decision really was. Fortunately -there is no difficulty in doing this, for there is the authentic record of the address which he delivered to the Natives on the 3rd August, 1844, which was published in the Maori Gazette for September, after the M.S. (in English) had been revised by himself. That address was given in full in the Appendix to the Governor's Despatch of 4th December, 1860. In it'the Governor distinctly recognised the individual right of each man, woman, or child, to land; desired each to point out his position ; ordered schedules of the individual ownership to be prepared; gave as a reason for these schedules that they would prevent future mistakes; advised them to he careful each to sell his own. property, in order that he might receive the payment himself; and expressly promised to buy any individual rights ichen they should be offered on reasonable terms. But this was not all. When in the second visit which Governor Fitzroy made in November 1844, the piece of land now known as the " Fitzroy Block" was under negotiation, certain proposals were made to the Governor by Protector Forsaith, Protector McLean, and the Eev. Mr. Whiteley, as ifollows ; "Let a Block of land be marked out Let a definite sum be fixed as a .fair and equitable