THE CROWN, THE TREATY, AND THE HAURAKI TRIBES, 1880–1980

area. It will be seen in later discussion that, instead, Maori were increasingly pushed aside, as the Government at the behest of the Te Aroha Town Board and local residents actively sought the purchase of their remaining properties in the township.

(c) Purchase of the gold field blocks

The gold fields also provided an exception to the Crown's reluctance to purchase in these years, although the reaction to claims of mineral wealth was more cautious than in the late 1860s and 1870s. The old profitable seams had been largely worked out and the imperative of acquisition, already muted by the cession agreements, had declined further. Nonetheless, efforts to purchase continued to be stimulated by occasional new workings, local pressure for the securing of the freehold of those blocks which still produced some revenue, the general belief that such lands should not pass into the hands of private parties, and the Government's desire to relieve itself of obligations under the original cession agreements. It pursued the purchase of a number of blocks within the proclaimed gold field with varying degrees of success. Negotiations for Kaipitopito, Te Kapua no.

and 2, Opitomoko-Kuranui, Hikutaia no. 4, Manaia no. 1A, Waiau no. 1A, Waiotahi, Te Ipu o Moehau, and Moehau 4 may be placed in this category. Four cases studies have been drawn from the histories of these blocks to illustrate Crown policy with regard to acquisition of gold field blocks in the 1880s.

Waiotahi A

Sheehan's administration reaffirmed the general standing of the Thames gold field blocks within the Government's priorities in the district, the Minister writing to his land purchase officer (Wilkinson) in early 1879:

The municipal authorities have again been urging upon me the desirability of purchasing the freehold of the Gold Fields adjoining Grahamstown and Shortland. I have some idea that the L.P. Officers have always held a standing authority to purchase if opportunity offered, but to make sure I renew the authority I doubt very much if you can succeed. At the same time it is as well that you should understand that we are willing to purchase if opportunity offers at a reasonable rate.44

Later that year Wilkinson reported that he had managed to purchase several blocks within the field, but was now fighting off competition from private purchasers for Waiotahi A. Arguing that this sort of land should form part of the public estate rather than going into the hands of speculators, Wilkinson did not contemplate that Maori should be encouraged to keep it. Instead, he implied that the time was ripe for the acquisition since the block was liable to go up in value, stating that the current level of revenues accruing from it (approximately £215 per annum in miners' rights and residence site fees) was at its lowest, and that 'with the increased opening up of mines, the revenue [was] more likely to increase than decrease in the future.'45 Wilkinson's request that he should be authorised to spend more than the £500 which Whitaker had allowed for the

44 Sheehan to Wilkinson, 15 Janurary 1879. MA MLP 1881/516. Cited in Alexander, The Hauraki Tribal Lands, Part 2, p. 310,

45 Wilkinson to Under Secretary Native Land Purchase Department, 18 December 1879. Ibid., p. 311.

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