Port Molyneux : the story of Maori and pakeha in South Otago : a centennial history : commemorating the landing of George Willsher and his companions at Willsher Bay, June 28, 1840 : with a programme for the unveiling of the centennial cairn, erected by the Clutha County Council, June 28, 1940
The Question Of A Date
The Question Of A Date.
If we believed some historians, this might well be the last signature made by Tuhawaiki. The date incorporated in the deed is July 31, 1844. Clarke's copy says so; so does the copy printed by Hocken.
But other records state that July 31, 1844, was the day on which Tuhawaiki was drowned at Jack's Point, off Timaru. Both cannot be right.
A search of the transaction as printed in Mackay's “Native Affairs of the South Island” shows the same date in the body of the deed. But in the declaration by Colonel Wakefield attached to the bottom of the papers the date is July 29th, 1840. One explanation might be that the deed was signed on July 29, but that it took effect on the last day of the month, and for that reason the last day of the month was inserted, but the exact wording is: “on this 31st day of July, in the year of our Lord 1844.”
It is probably in keeping with the spirit of the time—a day or two didn't matter!