While this arbitration meant that the Hauraki claims could be extinguished, by deed, at a later date, fears of ‘Hauhau rebels’ in 1865 and 1866 and interruptions to the survey of the confiscated block impeded the allocation of reserves in both the confiscated and purchased blocks, as well as the establishment of military settlements. During this time, the question of the Native Land Court’s role in determining native title in the district was also raised, but the proclamation issued on 18 May 1865 brought the Tauranga district under the New Zealand Settlements Act 1863, and thus removed the lands from the Court’s jurisdiction. Notably, this proclamation extinguished customary title, not only in the confiscated block but over the entire district, including – albeit unnecessarily – the area purchased by the Crown.

The Katikati-Te Puna purchase would remain incomplete until the western boundaries of the confiscated block could be agreed upon and surveyed accordingly.³⁷ Concern and confusion over the confiscated and purchased areas were apparent in the speeches of rangatira who attended meetings at Tauranga held by Colonel Haultain, Defence Minister, on 26 February 1866, and by Grey and Whitaker on 26 March 1866, although the only record of the latter meeting was written some time after it. From the statements made by Maori speakers at both meetings, it is clear that an agreement had to be reached on the issue of precisely what area had been confiscated. However, Gilbert Mair, who had attended the latter meeting as interpreter, later suggested that an agreement about the block to be confiscated was reached only after threats of military force were made. In Mair’s words, written in March 1867, when those at the meeting were informed that the confiscated block might extend west to the Te Puna river, they became ‘rather excited … and said they would not consent; but upon being informed by the Governor that they had been treated better than any other tribe, but that if necessary, they should be put down by force of arms.’³⁸ Needless to say, this proposal was accepted. Neither Clarke nor Mackay were present at this meeting, but Mair’s report was corroborated by Mackay, who was later ‘told by the natives that His Excellency then told them, “he wanted 50,000 acres of land,

³² Stokes, Te Raupatu, vol. 1, ch. 8; Vincent O’Malley, ‘The Aftermath of the Tauranga Raupatu, 1864-1981’, Wai 215 #A22, Crown Forestry Rental Trust, November 1996, pp. 11-16.

³³ This is covered more fully in Stokes, The Allocation of Reserves, vol. 1, ch. 5.

³⁴ W. G. Mair to Rolleston, 20 March 1867, AJHR 1867, A-20, p. 53.