THE CROWN, THE TREATY, AND THE HAURAKI TRIBES, 1880–1980
Waata Tipa told Lewis that: 'At the line to the north of Patatai a certain area was not given up. Our word now is, that what is now offered is all we will give up to you.' 115
Lewis indicated that Ngati Paoa would not be expected to give up all their lands but
rejected the tribe's offer as utterly inadequate for the amount of money received in the
past. He pointed back to the deed signed in 1874, and to their individual responsibility: There is a deed in existence which parts with the whole of the land. That document gives up the whole of the land. That document gives up the whole of Piako. The Government do not wish to tie you down to the strict terms of that agreement. If they did so even at half a crown per acre the price proposed by Mr Mitchelson you would have to give over 144,000 acres, an area which it is figured, you do not possess. When you made the offer of 19,000 acres, Mr Stevens asked for 80,000. The additional offer now made is only 2,500 acres because Mohonui is Crown Land. I do not forget the alteration of the confiscated line that reduces the debt from £18,000 to £15,000.... The Natives should consider firstly the agreement they made—and secondly the amount of money paid to each of you.116
Negotiations then moved onto the question of the sums received, and who should bear responsibility for them. Aperahama Pokai claimed that while his individual debts had been placed against Piako, those of Urikaraka had been paid off by the transfer of Te Aroha and Ohinemuri. He now offered 'in addition to what Wiri Kerei and Waata handed over' a ten chain strip running along the confiscation line from Rataroa (Te Kowhatu-o-Ngaramania) to Pukekamaka, stating at the same time: 'We are all Ngati Paoa.' Lewis scorned the offer as 'too narrow for a bullock to turn in,' and flatly denied that Pokai was being charged with debts that had been cleared by the alienation of other lands.117 He placed the Government's offer before Ngati Paoa. £3000 would be taken off a debt of £18,000 to pay for their confiscated lands while they would have to find 50,000 acres out of their remaining Piako lands, estimated at 80,000 acres in total, in order to satisfy the debt still outstanding.
Over the next two days, the accounts were prepared and examined by the Native Committee. All individual items were acknowledged, except in nine instances of people not admitted by Ngati Paoa who also refused to take responsibility for a payment of £400 to Ngati Te Ata. In particular dispute, however, was the sum of £4,500, entered onto the 1874 deed. Mackay, who attended the meeting in order to explain the Government's understanding of the transaction, told the meeting that this sum was the original amount placed as a raihana debt against 'Piako':
It was not placed in sovereigns on the table. [P]art was in goods and part in money. You all know that you the Ngatipaoa gave a great feast in 1874to the whole of the tribes of Hauraki.
I at their request went to Auckland for the necessary supplies and I nearly cleared out the stocks of flour in the hands of the Auckland merchants. The meeting lasted for a long time. A good deal of money was given to the people during its continuance. I saw the principal chiefs and showed them the accounts. ... It was included in the agreement when it was drawn up, and the agreement was read over twice in the open air before it was signed.... All
I have to say is you had the £4,500 and signed for it. The vouchers you have now admitted
57