Difficulty in Getting Land Titles.

“Poverty Bay attained notoriety,” commented Mr. deLautour, “largely through the awful massacre of 1868. Though that disaster acted on settlement here as a deterrent in some ways, yet it really stimulated inquiry about the district. As the panic following the massacre died down, inquiries literally poured in and the district became very widely known. Stories of its richness and fertility, many of them perhaps exaggerated spread throughout New Zealand and man expressed the wish to take up land here. Then came the difficulty: Where was the land to come from? The only Crown lands in the district were the original 1000-acre town block and such areas as had been confiscated from rebellious Natives. All the rest was in the hands of the Maoris.

“The Government had been approached,” continued Mr. deLautour, “but it was some time before its purchasing agents began to get any land and then there was always much difficulty over the purchases. Some of the agents were far from satisfactory in their methods. This afterwards reacted greatly against the progress and there were many imperfect and disputed titles. The Natives soon learned from their agents to set up all manner of claims. Undoubtedly, in many instances, the Natives were entirely in the right, but some of their claims were really ridiculous.