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A compendium of official documents relative to native affairs in the South Island, Volume One.

Enclosure in No. 5. — [Translation.]

Enclosure in No. 5.
[Translation.]

Pigeon Bay,

12th January, 1852.

Speed this my letter to all the Natives of Otakou and Ruapuke. This is my address to you. The payment for the district of Tuturau, and from thence to Nelson, including the whole line of coast between the two places, has been given. The Governor did not consent to pay the money until the second time the matter was discussed; and then the Governor and Mr. McLean agreed to pay for the land where Te Puoho (a chief of the Ngatitoa) was killed. The boundary commences at Tuturau, and finishes at Arahura. The Natives of the Ngatitoa, Ngatitama, and Ngatiraukawa, have all received the payment. Not only is the whole of the land on the West Coast included in this sale, but it includes also the land on this or the East Coast, including Pamoana and Kaikoura. We who are living here are living upon land the substance of which has been clandestinely bought by (or sold to) the Governor. Nothing has yet equalled the desire of the Europeans for the land, no matter whether it is bought honestly or not. The blame, however, does not rest with Te Wahapiro (alias Paramatta), neither with Rawiri Puaha; it rests with Taiaroa, who authorized the payment for the district of Tuturau (probably near Ruapuke) to be by them received; they were the more earnest in seeking the payment in consequence of a letter addressed to them by Taiaroa to that effect. O! the blindness of you people, to allow other Natives to receive the payment for the land which you occupy! We had thought that Kaiapoi alone was to be sacrificed in this way; but it seems that all the lands in this Island are to share the like fate.

This finishes my address to you; but not mine only,—it is from us all.

Na Ihaia.