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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 63

Report of Dr. Featherston, Land Purchase Commissioner, on the purchase of the Manawatu-Sangitikei Block

Report of Dr. Featherston, Land Purchase Commissioner, on the purchase of the Manawatu-Sangitikei Block.

"On the 27th March, Dr. Featherston had a long interview with Ihakara This chief stated emphatically his determination to sell the disputed block, mentioned .£21,000 as the price he was prepared to propose, and warned Dr. Featherston that there would, at the commencement of the meeting, be strong opposition from a section of his tribe.

On the 28th March, Dr. Featherston, accompanied by Mr. Buller, R.M., proceeded to Turakina. On the following day his Honor held a meeting at the Ben Nevis Hotel, with about fifty of the principal Ngatiapa claimants. Dr. Featherston pointed out to them that unless the tribes would now consent to co-operate in a final effort to settle this long-standing difficulty, there seemed very little prospect of anything being accomplished at Te Takapu.

A perahama Tipae, in reply, spoke with much bitterness of the Ngatiraukawa and their Chiefs. He declared that the Ngatiapa would never consent to unite with the other tribes in the proposed sale, and that nothing, therefore, could be gained by their attending the meeting at Manawatu. He said that while the Ngatiapa were still in favor of selling, they would not consent to divide the purchase money with the Ngatiraukawa, or with the Rangitane, and that unless Dr. Featherston was prepared to close with the Ngatiapa, irrespective of the other claimants, he would consider the negotiations at an end, and would encourage his tribe to take up arms again in defence of their rights.

Governor Hunia made a still more violent speech against the other tribes, openly boasted that they (the Ngatiapas) had now plenty of arms and ammunition, and could easily drive off their opponents, and that they would now prefer an appeal to arms to any other course. He almost intimated that they had, during the West Coast campaign, reserved their ammuntion for that purpose. This extreme violence was, however, distasteful to the meeting.

Dr. Featherston rebuked Hunia, Aperahama, Tipae and others for the statements they had uttered, said they knew full well that their threats were of no avail with him; that he regarded them as mere Maori bounce; emphatically warned them against taking the law into their own hands, and, while acknowledging the services they had rendered, expressed a hope that the result of the recent campaign had been to establish a conviction in the minds of all the Maoris, that the Queen's Government was both determined and able to enforce law and order.

page lxxvii

Although the discussion lasted for several hours longer, nothing definite was arrived at, the whole of the Natives present declaring that they would not take a penny less than £40,000, and that the other tribes should not share the payment with them; that their great desire was to fight, and take the land by right of conquest.

On the morning of the 5th April there were about seven hundred Natives present. * * * Ihakara said. * * * His offer to sell the land to Mr. McLean had not been listened to by the tribe, and he had on that account resolved to retain Rangitikei. He would have continued to oppose the sale of the land had he been able to discover any other way out of the difficulty. There were only two ways open to him—one was to fight the Ngatiapa, and lake forcible possession of the soil; the other was to sell the land to the Queen, and to let the Ngatiapa sell also. * * * Had the title to the block been clear he would probably have asked a million pounds for it! but is it was fighting ground, he would ask Dr. Featherston for a very small price, only £21,000. Horomona had proposed that the price to be paid to Ngatiraukawa should be £20,000. He would add another thousand to this, and ask for this payment on behalf of all the tribes concerned. This would show that he was selling, not for the sake of the money, but to prevent fighting. If his share should only be sixpence he would be satisfied. It was the price of peace. He thought more of the blood of his young men than of the Queen's gold and silver. After describing the boundaries of the block, Ihakara concluded by calling on Dr. Featherston to accept his offer, and pay the money.

Speeches were then delivered by the following, viz. :—Wiriharai, Tohutohu, Takana, Te Kooro, Reupena Te One, Horopapera Te Tara, Hare Hemi Taharape, Heremaia Te Tihi, Paranihi Te Tau, Henare Hopa, Te Rewiti, Henare Te Herekau, Rawiri Te Wanui, Parakaia Te Pouepa, Te Kepa Kerikeri, and Rota Tawhiri. All these speakers declared themselves more or less opposed to the sale.

Henare Te Herekau urged that a further attempt should be made to get the exception clause in the Native Lands Act repealed and to have the question of title in this case investigated and adjudicated on by the Native Lands Act. In this proposal he was supported by Parakaia Te Pouepa, from Otaki. * * *

7th April * * * Many, who at the outset had declared against the sale, were now avowedly favourable to it, and it was evident that the spirit of opposition had been in a great measure crushed by the resolute determination of Ihakara and the other leading chiefs to effect a sale of the block.

Ihakara made a final speech to the following effect. * * * 'Dr. Featherston, the land is yours. Give me the payment. Here are the people, let them consent. Refuse not, lest there be fighting. * * * Listen not to page lxxviii the words of my relatives (meaning the opposition). Pay the money and all the opposition will disappear. It was so when the Awahou block was sold. Rangitikei is in your hands, hold it fast for ever and ever! The people are now waiting for your reply.'

It was here determined to send a deputation of ten chiefs to fetch the Ngatiapa. Governor Hunia first gave an angry refusal, and afterwards consented to attend the meeting. The Ngatiapa were received at Te Takapu with every demonstration of good feeling.

14th April.—The utmost anxiety was manifested for a final and decisive reply, and at the appointed time the Natives had assembled, and were waiting eagerly for Dr. Featherston's arrival. * * *

Ihakara called upon Dr. Featherston to reply to the speeches that had been made. The latter invited any of the Chiefs present who might wish to address the meeting before he closed the proceedings to do so. The discussion was thereupon resumed. Ihakara and the leading selling Chiefs were more earnest than before in pressing the sale of the block, while Hunia Te Hakeke openly declared that if the meeting should break up without the side having been effected, he would return at once to pa building, and would decide the title by a trial of strength with Ngatiraukawa.

Parakaia again brought forward his scheme for a settlement of the question (by a reference to the Land Court), but the proposal was scouted by the Ngatiapa. It was tacitly admitted by Aperahama Te Huruhuru and Nepia that, although they were now opposing the sale, they could not suggest any other way of settling their quarrel with the Ngatiapa.

About 3 p.m., Dr. Featherston rose and made the following speech, which was interpreted to the meeting by Mr. Buller, R.M.:—* * * Ihakara and other speakers had given a truthful history of the dispute, and he had little or nothing to add to it, but as there were many present whom he had not met at previous meetings, he was anxious that it should be made clear to all how it was that he first came to act as mediator between them—how it was that he came to be dragged into this long-standing quarrel. Not one of them dared to assert that he had ever asked them to hand over either the quarrel or the land into his hands. Not one of them dared deny that the three tribes had themselves forced upon him, whether he liked it or not, both the quarrel and the land in dispute. On the contrary, Ihakara and others have declared that he had appeared amongst them only after all other mediators had failed in persuading them to desist from appealing to arms for the settlement of the dispute. But he had not come up of his own accord or uninvited; He came up at the request both of the tribes and of the Government. Why had they invited him; was it not because, during a long period, they had ever regarded him as their friend—as one in whose justice and integrity they had page lxxix implicit faith? Why had the Government urged him to undertake such a difficult mission? Simply because they knew that the tribes had confidence in him, and would be more likely to be guided by his advice than by that of any other person. * * * He would call upon them to say whether by the steps he had taken to stave off the inter-tribal war, and to bring the quarrel to an amicable termination, he had done anything to forfeit their confidence. When he arrived amongst them, in January, 1864, he found both parties in a state of angry irritation—hostile pas erected—the red flag flying—nay, the very day for the commencement of the strife almost fixed, both parties proclaiming that, rather than surrender their claims, rather than admit the slightest claim on the part of their opponents, they would fight and die on the land. * * * What did he do? For many days he went backwards and forwards between the litigants, proposing various terms, urging them to come to some compromise. * * *

What he now wished clearly to ascertain was, whether any one of the proposals he made in 1864 to the tribes can be carried out.

It was then proposed to settle the question by arbitration. Arbitration means that each tribe should appoint a certain number of arbitrators; that if the arbitrators cannot agree, they appoint a third party to decide between them. This was a custom constantly adopted by pakehas, and the decision of the arbitrators or umpire is accepted as a final settlement of the matters referred to them. Now suppose that they had gone, or will to-day agree to go to arbitration, and that the award of the arbitrators had been or will be that the land in dispute belongs to the Ngatiraukawas and Rangitanes, would the Ngatiapas have acquiesced, or will they now acquiesce in that decision; or if the arbitrators decided that the Ngatiapas were the sole owners of the land, will the other tribes assent to give up their claim? (Universal dissent). Unless the three tribes are prepared to pledge themselves to abide by the award of the arbitrators, arbitration is useless, and will only embitter the dispute, and lead to a recourse to arms.

Another proposal was, that the three tribes should divide the land—but they objected to this that they never could agree in what proportions the land should be divided—whether each tribe should take a third, or one tribe a half, and two tribes the other moiety; but even if this difficulty could be got over, who was to decide what portion of the land was to belong to this tribe, what portion to the other—who was to decide whether one tribe should not be confined to the sand-hills, another tribe to the good land—whether one tribe should not have all the land for which, according to one proposal, he had been called upon to pay two shillings an acre, another tribe all the five shilling land, the third all the land they were asking one pound an acre for. Can these diffi- page lxxx culties, which were pointed out in January, 1864, be now overcome? Is a division of the land now practicable (Kahore, kahore.)

Another proposal has been made, during the discussion, by Parakaia and others, that they should take the land into the Native Lands Court, and have the title of the three tribes, claiming an interest in it, investigated by that Court. But Parakaia had omitted to tell them many things connected with that Court. He had not told them that all the tribes must consent to take the land into the Court—that each tribe must employ surveyors to mark out the boundaries of the land it claimed—that the tribe must be prepared to accept the decision of the Court. Were they all prepared to comply with any one of these conditions? Would they all consent to go into the Court? (No, no.) Would any one of them dare to send surveyors upon the land, every inch of which they had declared to be in dispute, to be 'fighting ground'? Would they agree to abide by the decision of the Court? (Enough, enough.)

He had gone through the proposals for the purpose of ascertaining whether one of them was practicable. Let the tribes say, with an united voice, that they agree to any one of them, that they will go to arbitration; let them say that they will divide the land; let them say that they will submit their claims to the decision of Judge Parakaia, and he would declare his concurrence in it.

He now gathered that the six tribes assembed before him were all but unanimous in scouting every one of these proposals, and were more than ever convinced that the only possible solution of the dispute was, to use their own words, an absolute sale of the whole of the land in dispute to the Crown, and after having for many days patiently heard all they had to say, he had no hesitation in expressing his entire concurrence in that conviction.

During the whole time the discussions had lasted, he had refused to take any part in them, or to answer a single question, or to give the slightest inkling of his intention. They had declared that they had said all that they had to say, and now formally called upon him to declare whether or not, as the only means of preventing bloodshed, he was prepared to accept the block and complete its purchase. He knew the responsibility which his decisive answer would entail upon him, but he had not the slightest hesitation in giving it. * * * He (Dr. Featherston) repeated what he had then and often since said, that he would purchase no land without the consent of the people. But what did he mean by the consent of the people or tribe? He did not mean that the opposition of one man (not a principal chief) should prevent a whole tribe selling their land. Neither did he moan that a small section of one tribe should be allowed to forbid some six or seven tribes disposing of a block which they were anxious to sell. However much he might insist upon having the page lxxxi consent of the tribe, of all the real and principal claimants, he would be no party to such a manifest injustice as would be implied by one or two men, probably possessing little or no interest in the land, forbidding the tribe selling it, or in a small section of one tribe opposing the wishes of some half-dozen tribes, especially when the carrying out of the decision of the majority was the only mans of avoiding an inter-tribal war.

The question, then, that arose in his mind was whether there was such a consent of the tribes assembled before him to the sale as would justify him in at once declaring his acceptance of their offer. * * * He would, therefore, call upon every one of the tribes to declare publicly, before this meeting, by their chiefs, whether or not the tribes consented to the sale.

He would call upon the several tribes to give their answer by the Chiefs. He called upon the Wanganui tribes to say whether or not they were agreed to the sale. Tamati Puna at once said, 'We are unanimous; all have consented.' Dr. Featherston then called upon the Ngatiapa to declare what their decision was. Governor Hunia, on the part of the tribe, said, 'You know our decision; we all insist upon the sale.' What say the Muaupoko tribe? Hoani Te Puihi replied, on behalf of the tribe, 'We are all unanimous in favour of the sale.' What is the answer of the Ngatitoa to this question? And he called upon Matene Te Whiwhi, Tamihana Te Rauparaha, and Hohepa, distinctly and severally to reply on behalf of the tribe they represented. The three Chiefs, one after the other, declared that the tribe were unanimous. What said the Rangitane? Peeti Te Aweawe replied, 'We also are unanimous; all have consented.' Lastly, he would call upon the Ngatiraukawa, who he knew were divided in their opinions. Ihakara expressed his regret that they were not like all the other tribes, unanimous in favour of the sale, but the large majority of them were so determined to sell, especially all the principal claimants, that he insisted upon the purchase being completed. Knowing that those who were at present holding out would soon become consenting parties, he never would listen to any other mode of adjusting the dispute. Dr. Featherston then said that his course was clear. Five of the six tribes were unanimous in their determination to sell, and of the Ngatiraukawa only a small sect ion opposed the sale. Of that section the two principal chiefs, Nepia Taratoa and Aperahama Te Hum, had some time since given their consent, and had repeatedly protested against the delay that had occurred in bringing the transaction to a close. Great chiefs like them were not in the habit of repudiating engagements entered into in the face of the whole tribe. He was certain, therefore, that the present opposition would not be persisted in. Of the other opponents many had already told him that they would abide by the decision of the majority, page lxxxii and would sign the deed of purchase. He felt, therefore, so confident that the deed would ultimately be executed by all the real claimants, that he had no difficulty in publicly announcing his acceptance of the block, and in congratulating them upon this long-standing feud being thus amicably settled and finally adjusted.

[This announcement was received with great applause, not a few of the opponents exclaiming, 'Rangitikei is fairly sold, is for ever gone from us!']

Dr. Featherston then reminded them that there were other questions to settle, viz.,—the price, in what proportion the purchase money was to be divided, and what chiefs were to distribute the money. The two latter might be left till the deed was signed, but the price must be fixed before the meeting broke up. Several amounts had been mentioned, some exorbitant, others not unreasonable. Let the tribes leave this matter in the hands of their chiefs, and they would find him prepared to meet them in a liberal spirit. This was ultimately fixed at £25,000. * * *

The deed of purchase has been prepared with due care, and is now being executed in the district by the several tribes claiming the land. The deed will be signed by over a thousand natives, and on its completion the purchase money will be handed over to certain chiefs, as in the case of the Upper Manawatu and other purchases, to be nominated by a general meeting of the tribes at Parewanui (Rangitikei), of which sufficient notice will be given. The chiefs will divide and distribute the money in such manner as may be agreed on among the tribes sharing it, and it is not anticipated that any difficulty will arise.

(Signed)

I. E. Featherston,

Superintendent's Office, Wellington, 30th June, 1866.