¹⁸⁶⁸ at the inaugural meeting of the Tauranga Cricket Club, Gill was appointed the treasurer.⁵⁹ When he left Tauranga in 1873, the Bay of Plenty Times lamented his departure from the district and recalled that in the early days of the district, ‘Mr Gill was so confident of the future Tauranga that he invested largely in landed property’.⁶⁰ This appraisal of Gill suggests that his land purchasing activities were speculative rather than civic-minded.

Clarke, who was Gill’s superior, later stated that at the time Gill acquired the reserves in the Katikati-Te Puna blocks, he had no knowledge of the transactions. In 1877 Clarke told the Native Affairs Committee:

Mr Gill purchased some sections within the purchased block – they were purchased by Private Contract in the same manner as all the other sections that had been purchased by the Europeans in that Block – I am not aware that the government were [sic] made aware of the purchases being made by Government officers – I was not aware of it myself at the time it was done.⁶¹

As Clarke was stretched with other business in the district, it is entirely plausible that he was unaware of Gill’s private business. However, this does not excuse irregular purchasing activities carried out by a government employee.

Gill left Tauranga to work in Wellington, where he continued to provide clerical support for Clarke in the Native Department.⁶² Gill sometimes reported general office business to Native Minister, Sir Donald McLean. Usually things were in order and going smoothly. It seems that the two men were on good terms. They discussed local politics in their correspondences and Gill even arranged for alterations to be carried out on McLean’s Wellington house.⁶⁴ Overall, it appears that Gill fitted into the culture of the Native Department and that he was a methodical and diligent worker.

⁵⁹ Daily Southern Cross, 8 December 1868, p.3.

⁶⁰ Bay of Plenty Times, 26 November 1873, np.

⁶¹ Evidence of H. T. Clarke, Le 1 1877/5, NA, np.

⁶² On Clarke’s move to Wellington, which coincided with McLean’s reorganisation of the Native Department, see Alan Ward, A Show of Justice: Racial Amalgamation in Nineteenth Century New Zealand, Auckland, rep. 1995, p. 260.

⁶³ R. J. Gill to D. McLean, 20 May 1874; 29 January 1875; 31 January 1876, MS Copy Micro 0535, reel 55, ATL. Gill also noted that ‘extra care’ was needed when dealing with land purchases, compared with ‘ordinary contingent expenses’. R. J. Gill to D. McLean, 23 January 1875. MS Copy Micro 0535, reel 55, ATL.

⁶⁴ R. J. Gill to D. McLean, 23 January 1875. MS Copy Micro 0535, reel 55, ATL.