Mackay went on:

The intention of the Governor in the first instance was evidently that the question of compensation to the Loyal Natives should be adjusted out of three fourths of the whole district, to be returned to the tribe and not out the one fourth retained by him as the Order in Council set forth …. The fact that the Natives having sold to the Crown the Katikati and [Te] Puna blocks which formed a considerable proportion of the three fourths above alluded to, … to a certain extent altered the position of the case. However in arranging this question Mr Clarke and myself endeavoured to adjust any outstanding claims by making reserves for some of the loyal persons who had received but little before on account of their lands being within the Military Settlement Block of 50,000 acres, although they had very small right to land otherwise within the Katikati and [Te] Puna blocks. We also proposed to the rebel party who owned the greater part of the purchased blocks that they should adjust the matter by giving a large share of the consideration money to the loyal claimants. Neither party however cared much for this proposition and it was negatived at the time by them.²⁴

Clarke’s allocation of reserves on the eastern side of the Tauranga harbour was documented more fully. At the end of May 1867, he submitted a schedule of lands that he recommended be granted to Maori in the confiscated block. This was accompanied by a clear description of the criteria he used for his decisions. As Stokes writes: ‘[t]he lists are indicative of the scale and nature of reserves intended to be granted’.²⁵ Four years later Clarke was instructed to file a report on lands granted to ‘Friendly Natives’ and ‘Returned Rebels’ and ‘lands surrendered to Natives’.²⁶ This included the reserves in the Katikati-Te Puna purchase. The description of lands was thus:

1. Lands awarded to friendly natives within the 50,000 acres block actually confiscated.

2. Lands awarded to returned Rebels within the 50,000 acre block actually confiscated.

3. Lands awarded to mixed friendly and rebel Natives within the 50,000 acre block actually confiscated.

4. Lands awarded to Natives in the Township of Tauranga and Greerton.

5. Lands awarded to Natives within the Te Puna and Katikati purchased block estimated to contain 80,000 acres

²³ Mackay to Under Secretary, Native Department, 31 July 1867, DOSLI files, box 1, folder 1, cited in Stokes, The Allocation of Reserves, vol. 1, p. 106.

²⁴ Mackay to Under Secretary, Native Department, 31 July 1867, DOSLI files, box 1, folder 1, cited in Stokes, The Allocation of Reserves, vol. 1, p. 106. Emphasis added.

²⁵ Stokes, The Allocation of Reserves, vol. 1, p. 107.

²⁶ Stokes, The Allocation of Reserves, vol. 1, p. 112.