Figure 86: Bath house 7 and tea kiosk

Government. This statement about admitting them free was only a verbal one. Messrs. Wilkinson and Mackay conducted the arrangement.⁶³

Ballance responded to Pepene’s complaint:

he referred to the hot springs at Te Aroha, and thinks that the agreement has been broken, on the ground that a small charge is made to the Natives for admission to the springs, but the charge only applies to some of the springs; the others are free to all. Then, in the case where the charge is made, no distinction is made between the Europeans and the Natives. The charge is a very trifling one, and has been put on simply to pay the cost of the improvements which have been made. The springs have been enclosed and made private for those who use and enjoy them. Why should the Natives therefore refuse to pay a small sum when the Europeans are willing? I hope they will look at this matter in a reasonable light, and see that what has been made is only to recoup the cost which has been incurred in improving the springs which attract people to the district and really enhance the value of the land which belongs to the Natives.⁶⁴

Spring 7 had been allocated to Maori use and was described in Dr Wrights guide as ‘a bath-house a distance from the rest which is set apart for the sole use of natives’.⁶⁵ Most of the tourist guides did not mention spring 7 at all, but Ingram stated ‘No 7 is a sulphur bath,

63.Pepene, ‘Notes of a Meeting Held at Parawai, Thames’, 12 February 1885, AJHR, 1885, G-I, p 37

64.Balance, ‘Notes of a Meeting Held at Parawai, Thames’, 12 February 1885, AJHR, 1885, G-I, p 39

65.Wright, p 15