open the lake with spades. On one occasion, a day was arranged for cutting an opening. Many people including police representatives, lawyers, members of the Featherston River Board and large numbers of Maoris gathered at the edge of the lake. The Maoris had erected a wire fence to prove their rights to the spit. The pakeha men were directed to start opening the lake and almost immediately Maoris (obviously well coached by their lawyers) walked up to each shoveller and caught hold of the handle. Trying to prevent the Maoris from obstructing the workers, the pakehas joined hands in a circle around the men in the trench. Immediately a number of Maori women dived under the men's hands and plunged into the drain, kicking and scratching furiously, and bringing down large quantities of sand. The project was abandoned.

An Unpromising Deal Negotiations on the part of the settlers continued for some time until finally the Crown, by virtue of an Agreement of Sale, dated the 13th of February 1896, acquired the lakelands known as Wairarapa Moana. The Maori owners received £2,000 and a promise of some land. It took until 1916 before an area of 30,486 acres of the Pouakani Block along the Waikato river, was actually handed over. At the time this block of land seemed valueless. There were no roads and much of it was covered with virgin bush, its nominal value was 4/- an acre. Many owners felt that living so far away Lake Onoke is opened by tractors making a channel through the sand from the lake to the sea, (Courtesy: Wairarapa Catchment Board.) Piripi Te Maari was one of the chief opponents of the opening of Lake Onoke. This photograph is from an old Pirinoa School magazine. Te Maari belonged to its foundation school committee. they were never likely to use the land and it would be much wiser to sell it at the first opportunity, so that the 139 original lake owners, or their successors, would receive their shares in cash. Consequently, when New Zealand Perpetual Forests made overtures for the purchase of the block at £25,000 the majority of the owners, at a meeting held in Greytown on 4th July 1930, agreed