Historians have argued, given the circumstances in which the purchase was made, that it was, in effect a compulsory sale, and part of the confiscation of the Tauranga district. Stokes has commented:
The Katikati Te Puna Purchase, in the circumstances, must be seen as having the nature of a compulsory purchase. There were certainly many unwilling sellers and subsequent disputes over the ‘rights’ of “Ngaiterangi chiefs” to sell.11
And:
Local people, however, were not really in a position to negotiate the terms of purchase and had little choice but to accept the government’s offer.12
The arbitrations which occurred after the initial agreement to purchase had been made were really to decide who should receive payment for the block rather than to obtain consent to the sale.
It is not only revisionist historians who have described the purchase as a form of confiscation. One contemporary Crown official, at least, felt the same way about the purchase. In 1865 William Fox, the Colonial Secretary, wrote to Governor Grey:
the Colonial Secretary expects unlimited claims of the same sort as these wherever the Cession principle may be attempted, none of which would probably have been heard of had the principle laid down in His Excellency’s proclamation of 11th July 1863 been consistently adhered to and made the basis of what is after all a forced acquisition of native lands under the colour of a voluntary sale [emphasis added].13
Reserves for Maori at Huharua
When negotiating the Katikati Te Puna purchase, it was also Mackay’s role to set aside reserves for Maori. In the Parish of Te Puna, most of the reserves were set aside on Omokoroa Point (see Figure 3). The Plummers Point area was planned to be the site for the Township of Te Puna. The township had been surveyed into lots by T. Heale at the end of 1864.14
However, three lots in the proposed Township of Te Puna were set aside for Maori by Mackay. These reserves were agreed to by Mackay after he had largely finished awarding reserves, and were made in recognition of occupation rights deriving from Ngati Haua’s role in Tauranga. Stokes gives the following description of Ngati Haua’s relationship with the people of Tauranga:
Te Waharoa had called on Tauranga support in campaigns against Te Arawa in the 1830s, following the killing of his relation, Hunga, by Haerehuka of Te Arawa. This led to the taking of Maketu Pa, and the retaliatory attack by Te Arawa on the Tauranga people at Te Tumu in 1836. Ngati Haua lived at various times in the Tauranga district, often at Omokoroa, but also on Motuhoa, Matakana and
11 Stokes, 1990, p 45
12 Stokes, 1990, p 40
13 William Fox to Governor Grey, 24 September 1865, G 17/3 No 15, National Archives, Wellington
14 ‘Report by T. Heale, 7 April 1865, re surveys at Tauranga’ in Raupatu Document Bank, vol 124, p 47616
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