account Ohinemuri’?¹²¹ Tupeka Whakamau apparently did not, because when his involvement in a transaction with Mackay and a storekeeper was investigated by the court, he could not remember whether he had signed a voucher ‘as I do not understand writing’. (His signature was on the voucher.¹²²) Possibly, Mackay failed, when making or authorising advances, to clarify that he was purchasing the freehold of Ohinemuri (not Waikawau or Moehau). To resolve this point is difficult, because the original receipts or ‘conveyances’ have not been located.

When Wilkinson first brought Ohinemuri before the court, he found that many Maori who had accepted payments (in cash or raihana) were reluctant to come to court to prove their claims, preferring to ‘stand to one side in order to allow those who have not sold to get large areas’. Wilkinson reported to McLean:

I have talked this matter over with the Judge and he is of my opinion viz. that it would be prejudicial to the Government to have its claims brought on too soon, as the Natives would be very sore when they found out how much of the block would go into Crown hands, considering how they have been all along trying to baulk the Government as much as possible, they would be sure to raise some excuse of obstruction to prevent the remaining portion of the block from going through the court.¹²³

The Crown was thus able to acquire further individual interests before 1882, when it applied to the court for its interests to be determined (as well as those remaining to Maori). The various hapu had unequal interests in Ohinemuri, and individuals had received different amounts as advances against the land. The debt against the block in 1882 was £15,000 less £6817 paid off in miner’s rights fees and other revenues from the 1875 lease agreement. With the court’s lists of owners determined, it was apparent that many of the 260 persons who had taken payment from Mackay or Puckey were not owners in Ohinemuri. Richard Gill, under-secretary of the Native Department had come to the district to take charge of the complex adjustments that followed. His analysis shows that, when Mackay resumed purchasing (in 1878 according to Gill), a deed of conveyance was prepared:

of those who signed the deed [between 1878 and 1880], 193 Natives were found to be owners in the land when the Title was investigated by the Native Land Court in July 1880. [Because] the Court found the interest of the Grantees to be unequal... Of the 193 Grantees 43 of them have been overpaid the sum of £4415.19.6 and 150 underpaid £5714.6.0, the price of the land in each case being calculated at 5/- an acre. Since the land passed the Court 141

121. ‘Purchase Money – Individual Payments’, in ‘Statement of the Facts and Circumstances Affecting the Ohinemuri Block’ (doc a8(a), pp 1026–1237)

122. ‘Statement of the Facts and Circumstances Affecting the Ohinemuri Block’ (doc a8(a), pp 1026–1237)

123. Wilkinson to Gill, [1880] nlp80/365; Wilkinson to McLean, 9 August 1880 (doc a8, pp 265–266)