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Notes on Sir William Martin's Pamphlet Entitled the Taranaki Question

Page 17

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Page 17.

"It does not appear."…………

On the contrary, it is maintained that this was just the time and place to do it. There is little doubt that it is a custom among the New Zealanders that if a person present at the offer of land does not put in his claim at the time, he is held to be barred. The Rev. Riwai Te Ahu, in his Evidence before the Board of 1856, said: "I think that if claimants do not come forward at the proper time, they should forfeit their claims." It was this which caused the cry which arose among the Natives at the meeting, "Kua riro a Waitara" (Waitara is gone). The Governor had just declared that while he would buy no man's land without his consent, he would not permit any one to interfere in the sale of land unless he owned part of it. Wiremu Kingi was bound distinctly to say, then, whether he claimed a proprietary right, or was merely repeating the determination he had constantly expressed before, of prohibiting the further sale of land even by the rightful owners. He did not say it, and the Natives cried out "Waitara is gone."