THE CROWN, THE TREATY, AND THE HAURAKI TRIBES, 1800-1885

Kupenga, Wakarawe, Karamu, Pouroto, Wakaturia, Ngakete, and Ruikakara. The vaguely described boundaries ran from Waipuna, near the Panmure Basin and Tamaki River, west to the Kawarahi Hill, near Mt Smart close to the Manukau to the middle of the Otahuhu canoe portage. Payment comprised 53 blankets, 13 spades, 20 adzes, 20 hose, 16 axes, 12 combs, 12 scissors, 12 knives, eight china pipes, and £8 in cash." Ngati Whatua, who contended for control of the west bank of the Tamaki Rive; received a lesser payment of three blankets, 17 lb of tobacco, one beaver hat and three china pipes, a year later." In 1838 Ruinga, Tuma, and Tohi also 'sold' some 3,000 acres, including timber, on Waiheke to Thomas Maxwell for five sovereigns, 25 Spanish dollars, one and a half casks of tobacco, eight casks of gun powder, two blankets, and a whaleboat. Kahukoti, Ngauranga, and Ruinga sold another 3,000 acres on the island to William Webster for goods, including gun-powder, valued at Lio8. In the following yea; Fairburn purchased 300 acres on Motuihe from Hoete (William Jowett) for £30, on-selling the land to Taylor four months later for £200. Hoete, with other Ngati Paoa, also 'sold' Takapuna lands to Taylor and Spark for £330 of goods and £25 in cash? In 1840 Ngati Paoa participated with other iwi in two further transactions: in Dalziel's purchase of a block from Omaru Creek on the western shore of the Tamaki River, west to Okahu Bay; and in the sale of Motutapu and three other islands to Thomas Maxwell.35

Other Hauraki groups—Ngati Maru, Patukirikiri, Ngati Whanaunga, Ngati Tamatera, and Ngati Hei—signed deeds for lands around the Coromandel harbour, Whitianga, Mercury Bay, and near Thames, cementing bonds with missionary Preece and local entrepreneurs such as Webster, Browne, Dacre, and Kennedy. These transactions, like those outlined above, were generally for goods and a little cash, and, in some cases, comprised relatively large areas. Browne, for example, set out to make as many 'purchases' as he could in the northern peninsula, both on his own behalf, and acting as an agent for Dacre for their sawmilling operations.36 He signed deeds in 1837 with Rahui, Puata, and others, for lands at Mercury Bay (an estimated 2,000 acres), for £16 and goods valued at some Lux) at Sydney prices; and for another estimated 1,200 acres from Maka, Paerata, and others, for £134 in goods. Other agreements were reached with Ngati Paoa for lands at Waipuna, on the isthmus, and Mahurangi.37 Webster also signed a number of deeds with different Maori groups: Tauaroa and Arakuri for land at Coromandel and Wanganui Island; for Mangamangaroa on the River Thames with Te Ngarara and Taharoku; with Hokianga and Pehi for land near Tairua; Pehi, Panei Pae, Pouaka, and others for Big Mercury Island; Kaukoti, Tauaroa, and others for Point Rodney; with Te Ruinga and

32 H.H. Turton, Maori Deeds of Land Purchases in the North Island of New Zealand (copied from the originals) 1877-1888, Wellington, 1888, no. 366, pp. 328-329.

33 The purchase was subsequently affirmed by three witnesses from each iwi before the Land Claims Commission. Hamlin received a grant of 1,100 acres while the Crown claimed 214 acres as surplus.

34 See Bell report, 23 June 1862. Taylor and Spark case file, OLC 1 454.

35 See Turton, Maori Deeds, no. 347, p. 306; no. 350, p. 312; no. 354, p. 34; no. 357, p. 320.

36 Browne to Dacre, 1 February 2836, attached to 61/6z. In OLC I 978-981.

37 See Dacre for Browne to Colonial Secretary, February 2841, in ibid.

36