Ngatitokotoko’.³² Mackay’s rough allocation notes from July 1866 had also listed that 400 acres at Omokoroa were assigned to ‘Ngatitokotoko hapu – Rangiwaka and others (Wiremu Bryan, Richard, Edward John to have land with Rangiwaka ima [sic], not to have land elsewhere)’.³³ These were surveyed as Lots 52, 53, 187 and 188, although on the survey plan, none of the reserves are labelled ‘Ngati Tokotoko’.³⁴ Crown grant information for the two reserves purchased by Gill reveals that they were Crown granted to three individuals, Te Makaka, Te Puru and Patuhoe, whereas the remaining 67 acres – Lots 187 and 188, Parish of Te Puna – were Crown granted to ‘Te Makaka and Patuhoe in trust for Ngatitokotoko’. Furthermore, the latter two reserves had an alienation restriction clause inserted in the Crown grant:

‘provided always that the said Land hereby granted shall be inalienable by sale of lease for a longer period than 21 years or by mortgage except with consent of the Governor being previously obtained to any such sale, lease, or mortgage.³⁶

This restriction appears to comply with the requirement of section 5 of the Native Lands Act 1866, but proves that it had little effect on stopping the sale.³⁷

Why restrictions were placed on only one-sixth of the total area initially allocated to Ngati Tokotoko is impossible to answer with any certainty. So too is how over 80 per cent of the reserved area supposedly vested in trust for Ngati Tokotoko was sold without question. One answer might be that an arrangement had already been entered into between Gill, Te Makaka, Te Puru and Patuhoe, before the Crown grant was awarded. Therefore, only Lots 187 and 188 could be granted in the manner originally intended.

Gill, along with W. G. Mair, Auckland solicitor William Henry Kissling, and surveyor, Archibald Turner, participated in the next three transactions. One of these involved a Katikati-Te Puna reserve. Mair was the interpreter in each of the three purchases. Turner purchased Lots 17 and 113, Parish of Te Papa.³⁸ Gill acquired Lot

³¹ Deed register K2 81, ref. 1957^K, LINZ, Auckland.

³² H. H. Turton, ed., Maori Deeds of Land Purchases in the North Island of New Zealand: Copied From Originals, vol. 1, Wellington, 1877-1878, p. 638.

³³ DOSLI files, box 1, folder 5. See Stokes, The Allocation of Reserves, vol. 1, p. 104.

³⁴ SO 421, LINZ, Hamilton.

³⁵ Deed register K1 199, ref. 379^K, LINZ, Auckland.

³⁶ Crown Grant 3GK, 157, LINZ, Auckland.

³⁷ New Zealand Statutes, 1866, no. 28, p. 142.

³⁸ Deed register K1 196, ref. 375^K; LINZ, Auckland.