From the government’s perspective, Borrell’s statements regarding the property were only relevant in so far as they were related to legal title of ownership. As Borrell did not hold title to either section 224 or 225, the Crown ignored his appeal. The government clearly felt that it was in no position to address the issue in terms that would have suited Borrell’s requirements. As far as the Public Works Department was concerned, it was witnessing a dispute between private individuals and the local body; A dispute it was able to say that it had no jurisdiction over. The debate over ownership and land usage and public interest degenerated into a neighbourly feud between Pakeha farmers. It was resolved by the building of gates and the putting up of fences.

Borrell’s attitude regarding Maori land, and the use made of it by the local council and the Crown, was also expressed in a subsequent letter to Pomare regarding land that he did own:

Herewith written in ink is the predicament into which an unsuspecting, innocent Maori is placed by the statutes of the white man and his so-called ravages. Involved in this case is the Public Works Act which gives me undue injustice. Twenty years ago three acres of land was taken from me under that Act for the purpose of a school ground, which was, of course, a rather legitimate cause. However with the advent of the East Coast Railway there was a further requirement for land in its surveyance, which meant the complete severance of the property diagonally, the railway line cutting it right in half which is a rather awkward way to treat one’s property. But let that suffice, and again I have been threatened by a further enforcement to accede to the request of the Tauranga County Council for a road to go through the whole length of the property again while there is a road giving access to their objective. Is this fair ? I strongly protest against this action and I sincerely recall their proverb “Mon Dieu et mon Droit” in accordance with the unconditional enforcement of this threat. Taking three acres for the school ground, eight acres for the railway and its respective isolation of the property. Now I am confronted with a threat that another eight acres will be taken. Will you grant me light or help in this predicament.⁶⁰

This letter clearly identifies the strength of feeling that Borrell had towards the Crown, which he felt had taken land at will without any regard towards maintaining the cultural or ancestral integrity of the land for Maori, not to mention the practical integrity of farming land that had been dissected by a railway track.

Further evidence of land damage and disfigurement was the desecration of the pa sites and burial grounds on the Plummers’ property. This information was recorded by D. Borrell, a member of the Tauranga Historical Society:

The pa at Hakarua [sic], as was subsequently found, was a repository of scores of stone axe-heads. Miss Violet Plummer, while I was there building at her home, showed me two boxes of these stone axe-heads. Some of them were well polished, others were of a rougher nature, and the best ones she told me were sent away to the Auckland museum, a box full of them. Then she related to me how a taiaha was found in the swampy ground lower down. These discoveries, especially of the stone axes, do show that this pa is of the very oldest type. Who knows, there may be a lot of other

⁶⁰ Werahiko Borrell to Sir Maui Pomare, 15 November 1927, W 1 35/161 Omokoroa - Te Puna, NA Wellington