who then brought some of his kin to live in the area in the late eighteenth century) and the waka landings required by a maritime people.55 Subsequent purchases of adjoining lands tended to be from Ngati Whatua, although Hauauru was a signatory in the sale of Papakura, undertaken primarily by Ngati Tai in 1843.
(b) Pre-emption waiver purchases, 1840-1845
Hauraki land sales also followed upon the Crown's waiving of its pre-emptive powers in 1844-1845. The impact of this may be discussed here, before turning back to an examination of the Old Land Claim Commission which had started its hearings on Hauraki claims in 1843. Pressure was mounting on FitzRoy to allow direct dealing between settlers and Maori. The agitation was largely generated from old settlers denied the chance to speculate on land, but also from new arrivals who found that their needs were not being met by the Government, and purportedly, from Maori who thought they would receive better prices on the open market. In early 1844 the Crown made one of the first of many decisions in which Maori interests took a second place to the demands of settlers. FitzRoy, giving way to what he called 'popular feeling', waived the pre-emptive right of the Crown, previously held up as necessary for Hauraki protection, in order to allow individual settlers to purchase land from Maori, on payment of a tax of 10/- per acre. This tax was reduced to a penny a few months later. FitzRoy attempted to redress the harm which might be caused to Maori by including a commitment, in the same proclamation of 26 March 1844 authorising the waiver, that:
Of all land purchased from the aborigines in consequence of the Crown's right of preemption being waived, one-tenth part of fair average value as to position and quality is to be conveyed by the purchaser to Her Majesty her heirs and successors for public purposes, especially the future benefit of the aborigines.56
He repeated this undertaking to the great hui at Remuera in May 1844 and in the Native Trust Ordinance of July, but this policy was supported neither by the Home Government nor by Grey. The Native Trust Ordinance was not notified and private purchasers were offered, and generally accepted, the option of buying the one-tenth.57
The Government's decision to bow to the demands of a noisy minority of Auckland settlers had adverse results for the Hauraki tribes who possessed rights in Tamaki and the Gulf Islands. George Clarke, as Protector, recorded his objections to the change of policy—he looked upon the measure 'with extreme anxiety', fearing a 'collision growing out of sales of disputed lands'.58 A hint of the sort of pressure under which Maori owning lands near Auckland could be placed is to be found in the instances of Ngati Paoa chiefs, Ruinga and William Jowett (Hoete). Grey, criticising FitzRoy's measure, drew Colonial Office attention to their complaint regarding Adam Chisholm who held a pre-emption
55 Ibid., no. 207, p. 269. Doc. 53, p. 1244.
56 Enclosure in FitzRoy to Stanley, 15 April 1844. Cited in Ward 'Supplementary Historical Report', p. 30.
57 A. Ward, 'Alienation of Ngati Paoa Land', report prepared for CCJWP, 1991, p. 21.
58 Cited in Monin, 'Islands lying between Slipper Island,' p. 53.
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