which Te Moananui had secured a vote in favour of mining, but when he did arrive on 9 December he was met by Te Hira’s eloquent opposition:

I will not consent. If you give me what is not life I shall know. Of what is the use of the land after it is broken? When the land is broken, the owner perishes … This is my place, why do you seek after it? It is only a little piece. Let it remain to me.⁴⁹

McLean argued that each person in Ohinemuri ‘should be allowed to deal with their own share as they think best’. But he counselled pro-mining Maori to be patient; he would retain what they had placed in his hands, and they should decide upon the location of reserves, in the event of the goldfield being opened.⁵⁰ He warned the miners assembled at Thorps farm against indiscreet actions.⁵¹ Superintendant Gillies rejected their idea of paying cash advances to ‘friendly’ Maori:

until the negotiations show signs of success, and are put into some tangible shape as to terms, it does not appear to me prudent to make an advance to the friendly Natives, who appear to be unable to open even their own lands without the consent of their opponents.⁵²

By June 1870, the miners were losing hope and Puckey wrote to McLean that there was ‘nothing new about Ohinemuri except that diggers are leaving it’.⁵³ Thorp continued attend Maori meetings and in October 1870 wrote to McLean urging the Government to act, yet in November he was writing again to complain of having received no response.⁵⁴

This Government diffidence may have been prompted by stiffening support for Te Hira; by December Te Moananui was residing at Ohinemuri and, wrote Puckey, ‘will not fail to do all in his power to retard the opening of that part of the country’.⁵⁵ Te Moananui’s disaffection with gold mining is difficult to interpret. He had received fairly substantial but declining goldfield revenues but distributed much of them to his people. In August 1870, he had failed to honour a promissory note and had departed for the King country to evade bailiffs.⁵⁶ He returned to Thames after the Government advanced £300 to his creditor. This episode may have been a proximate cause of his firm alliance with Te Hira.

49. Te Hira Te Tuiri, ‘Notes of a Meeting which Took Place at Ohinemuri on 9 December 1869’, AJHR, 1870, a-19, p 10 (Monin, p 220)

50. ‘Ibid, pp 8–11 (doc a8, p 198; doc o6, p 183)

51. New Zealand Herald, 13 September 1869 (doc o6, p 183)

52. Gillies to McLean, ‘Correspondence Relative to Ohinemuri and Native Matters at the Thames’, 9 February 1870, AJHR, 1870, a-19, pp 1–16 (doc a8, p 198)

53. Puckey to McLean, 25 July 1870, ms papers 32, folder 518, ATL (doc o6, p 195)

54. Thorp to McLean, 6 October 1870; Thorp to McLean, 11 November 1870, ms papers 32, folder 603, ATL (doc o6, p 196)

55. Puckey to McLean, 28 December 1870, ms papers 32, folder 518, ATL (doc o6, p 196)

56. Clarke to McLean, 31 August 1870; Pollen to McLean, 2 September 1870, Donald McLean papers, ms papers 32, ATL (Monin, p 229)