Judgment on the block of land lying between the Manawatu river on the north, and the Kakutauaki stream to the south.

Evening Post, Monday, March 10, 1873.

Native Land Court.

"At an adjourned sitting of the Native Land Court held at Foxton on the 4th March, the following judgment was given on the subject of the Kukutauaki Block :—

'This is a claim of Akapita Te Tewe and others, representing certain sections of the Ngatiraukawa tribe, to a block of land lying between the Manawatu river on the north, and the Kukutauaki stream on the south, on the West Coast of the Province of Wellington, and extending inland from the sea coast to the watershed of the Tararua range of mountains. These boundaries include lands the title to which have been investigated and decided by this Court, which lands are therefore excepted from; the present inquiry. The claimants apply to the Court to order certificates of title in favor of individuals and of sections of the Ngatiraukawa tribe, assert- page cxlvi ing an exclusive ownership founded on conquest, and on continuous occupation from a period anterior to the Treaty of Waitangi. The claim is opposed by Te Keepa Rangihiwinui and others representing five tribes—Muaupoko, Rangitane, Ngatiapa, Wanganui, and Ngatikahungunu, who contend that Ngatiraukawa has acquired no rights of ownership over the said block, and that the land belongs to them as inherited from their ancestors, and is still retained in their possession. The claimants and counter-claimants, with their witnesses, have been heard by the Court on the general tribal question, and the Court finds that sections of the Ngatiraukawa tribe have acquired rights over the said block, which, according to Maori custom and usage, constitutes them owners thereof (with certain exceptions), together with Ngatitoa and Ngatiawa, whose joint interest therein is admitted by the claimants. That such rights were not acquired by conquest, but by occupation, with the acquiescence of the original owners. That such rights had been completly established in the year 1840, at which date sections of Ngatiraukawa were in undisputed possession of the said block of laud, excepting only two portions thereof, viz. :—1, A portion of the block, the boundaries whereof are not yet defined, situate at Horowhenua, claimed by the Muaupoko tribe, of which they appear to have retained possession from the time of their ancestors, and which they continue to occupy. 2. A portion of the block at Tuwhakatupua, on the Manawatu river (boundaries not defined), claimed by a section of the Rangitane tribe, whose interest therein is admitted by the claimants. And the Court finds that the Ngatiapa, Wanganui, and Ngatikahungunu tribes, have not seperate tribal rights as owners of any portion of the said block, nor any interest therein, beyond such as may arise from connection with the Muaupoko residents at Horowhenua. That the Rangitane as a tribe, have no rights as owners of any portion of the said block, nor any interest therein, beyond such as may arise from connection with Muaupoko residents at Horowhenua, or with that section of Rangitane whose claims at Tuwhakatupua are admitted by the claimants.'

With reference to the above decision, it is a matter for congratulation that this vexed question, which at one time threatened to be of serious moment to the Province of Wellington, if not to the colony generally, has been so satisfactorily disposed of. From the violent and continued opposition offered by the five tribes, represented by Major Kemp and Kawana Hunia, to the claims of the Ngatiraukawa people, and their attempts to interrupt the proceedings of the Lands Court, some considerable apprehension existed that, in the event of a decision adverse to their interests being given by the Court, serious complications would arise, and several powerful tribes, who were only waiting for the occasion, would be drawn into the quarrel.

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We are bound to express our appreciation of the services of the Judges who presided over the Court during the investigation of this business, namely, Messrs. Rogan and Smith. Had these gentlemen exhibited less firmness and patience, or possessed less knowledge of the Native character and tact in managing them, we have no hesitation in saying that the Court would have been broken up at its sitting in November last, and the whole business would have resulted in 'confusion worse confounded.' At that time the Natives in opposition strained every nerve to get the Court adjourned indefinitely. Threats, intimidations, and every imaginable artifice was adopted by them, but all to no purpose. The Judges remained firm, evincing at the same time, by judicious adjournments and concessions, a desire to afford the opposing parties every facility to come into Court and prove their claims."