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three days. I only saw them once. They did not speak to me, nor Ito them. No Maori asked me to sign the deed. The only time I heard of it was when Heremia told the people that only the coal was to go to Jones, and the timber for working the coal. That was the day on which the pakehas arrived. I remained outside the whare. I did not myself see any Natives sign. The reason that I did not sign was that I was drunk. I do not know whether I would have signed if I had been sober. lam sure I did not sign it. Ido not remember ever having seen that document [produced] before. I cannot write my name. The mark to that document was not made by me. lam speaking the truth on my oath. I know Captain Messenger, and he knows me. If Captain Messenger has written on the deed that I signed it in his presence he must have made a mistake. The drink I had been drinking was beer. There were two large casks. They were standing outside the whare at Te Eainga. It was a Maori, who was a stranger, that gave me the beer at first. It would not take much to make me drunk. lam a Maori. The beer was run out into buckets, and the Maoris drank it with pannikins. It was early in the morning I began with the beer. I had a good many drinks through the day. After I had the beer I went home and went to sleep. I did not see the pakehas after I had the beer. I was lying down. I saw the pakehas in the morning when I was sober. I saw the beer put on the steamer at Waitara and landed at Mokau. I did not get the beer on the day it arrived, but on the day the Europeans came about the deed. I thought, when I heard the words of Heremia, that the matter was in his hands, and that I had nothing more to do with it. I and the others who had attended the Court left the matter to Heremia to manage for us. If Heremia had said that it was to give the land to Jones for fifty-six years, I would not have agreed.

Tuesday, 10th July, 1888. Hone Pumipi Kaupaebba and Mr. Butlek having been duly sworn, Hone gave evidence as follows :— I am one of the Natives residing at Waihi, near Mokau Heads, and am one of the owners of the land-there. I claim as far as Te Mourere. That is above where the coal is that was worked by Jones. I remember the time when Messenger, Grace, and other pakehas came to Waihi to get the deed signed. I think they were there two days. I held the pen while the mark now shown me was made by Grace. I did not know what the effect would be when I signed. I thought that the coal only would go, and the timber for working it. I did not think I was parting with the land to Jones. I had no thought that I was giving the land to Jones for fifty-six years. I trusted to the words of Heremia. I was present when Heremia called the people together to explain the matter to them ; that was a day or two before I made my mark. Heremia said that the coal was to go to pay for the survey and the Court expenses of Poutama, and when there was money enough the work was to cease, and no date was to be fixed. It was through trusting to those words that I signed. It was when the copy of the deed was sent by Messenger, and explained to us by Thompson, that w Te first knew that Heremia's words were not in it. I was not one of those who went up the river with Heremia to turn off the pakehas. I saw two large casks of beer on the beach on the day the deed was signed. I did not drink any. I saw many Maoris drinking; some of them had beer before they signed the deed. I saw them; they were drinking when they were called in to sign. The only Maori in the wharc when 1 went in was Wetere. Grace was there and his wife. Grace did not say anything to me. Dalton was not in the whare when I signed. If Messenger and Dalton have written on the deed that they explained it to me, that rests with them. It w ras not explained to me. I cannot give the names of any Maoris who were drinking, but numbers of them were drinking,, and women and children also. I saw children drinking the beer, and their parents scolding them and putting them away from it. I saw Messenger in the large whare where the talk took place. I was told he was there to distinguish between right and wrong. I signed in a small whare near the house where the talk took place. I did not see Messenger when I signed. Mosseuger talked only to the principal men ;he looked upon me as nobody that day; he used te know me when he came there on his own business or to shoot pheasants.

Monday, 23ed July, 1888. Tawhana tb Kaharoa and Mr. Wilkinson, the Interpreter, having been duly sworn, Tawhana gave evidence as follows : — I belong to Maniapoto, and reside at Te Kuiti. lam one of the owners of the Mokau-Moha-katino No. 1 Block. Ido not claim for the whole block, but in different parts of it. lam one of those who signed the lease to Jones. I signed it for myself, and also as guardian for several children: Their names are Pahi, Te Kaita, Parehuia, Te Mahuri, and Manawiti. I remember the time when Jones, Grace, and Messenger were at Mokau to get the deed signed. I was there when they arrived from Waitara. After they arrived they had a meeting with the people at Te Eainga. Heremia and his people were not present. The pakehas asked to be allowed to work the coal. Grace said it was for money to pay for the survey of Poutama, but I and others suspected that the pakeha, Jones, had other intentions ; that was because in former arrangements he had made with us there had been a great deal of shifting of the boundaries, and we were suspicious of him. No arrangement was come to, but we proposed to send for Heremia. I cannot say whether Huia was one of those who were sent up the river to fetch Heremia, but Heremia was sent for, and he came down the river with Te Oha and others of his people. The reason those two were sent for was because they had the largest say as to the land, and nothing could be settled in their absence. The first thing that was done after Heremia's arrival was to have a talk about the troubles that had occurred about former arrangements with Jones and the other pakehas

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