Colenso. — History of a Block of Greenstone. 599 



paka Tribe, and taken by them to the village Te Hautotara, 

 on the Upper Manawatu, where it remained quietly for a 

 long time, the admiration and wonder of all beholders. 

 Some years elapsed, and then it was borne in a litter by 

 Ngatipakapaka to Porangahau, and transferred to Henare 

 Matua; and some time after it was handed over by Henare 

 Matua to Te Harawira Tatere,* who had it carried to his 

 village at Waimarama (near Cape Kidnappers), where it also 

 remained for a long time in his possession, until finally it 

 was taken by him and his people to Napier, to be sawn into 

 slabs of proper thickness for the purpose of being afterwards 

 cut up into fit portions for meres (or hand-clubs), after the 

 fashion and taste of the Maoris, he, Te Harawira, having 

 arranged with a white man in Napier to saw up the said 

 block of greenstone for him ; but from this time it became 

 wholly lost to the Maori people." (Thus far the written 

 relation by the Maoris.) 



In the year 1878 the said block of greenstone was brought 

 by Te Harawira to Napier, he having arranged with a 

 European named James Rolfe, residing there in Emerson 

 Street, to cut it up for him. Some time after, I, on hearing of 

 this work, visited Rolfe's workshop to see the operation, and 

 found him and his wife closely engaged in carrying on the 

 work. It was a small room ; two or three small saws were in 

 brisk movement, worked by steam ; and, though I stayed some 

 time, and closely watched their cutting, they seemed to lack 

 power, so that when I left I could not but believe, at the rate 

 they were then going on, it would take a very long time to 

 accomplish the intended work, their simple and almost impro- 

 vised makeshift machinery wanting power. 



In 1881 Rolfe, having some time before completed his 

 task, and finding he could not get the owner and his friends 

 to come to any satisfactory terms, brought the matter into 

 Court before the Resident Magistrate ; but on this occasion 

 Rolfe was nonsuited, on the ground of insufficient evidence. 



Two years after, in 1883, 19th February, the matter came 

 again into Court, this time into the District Court, before Julge 

 Hardcastle, when Mr. Lascelles was the solicitor for Rolfe, 

 and Mr. Lee for Te Harawira. 



Rolfe's amended claim (now) was for £190, for cutting up 

 the said block of greenstone. In his statement he said that 

 the block weighed about 3cwt.; that the agreement between 

 himself and Te Harawira was for him to cut up tbe block into 

 twelve cuts (or slabs), for which work £200 was to be paid by 

 instalments. That on the next week Te Harawira called and 



* In the law-courts, infra, he is named Orihau. Like many other 

 chiefs, he bore two names. 



