6 Transactions. 



River ; Mr. Bull and Mr. Donald Fraser each took a large block 

 in the Rangitikei district ; Captain Earl— or, as he is called in 

 the records, " Kerl " — and Mr. Daniels also took up large hold- 

 ings in the Rangitikei. Each of the northern settlers obtained his 

 holding by the consent of the Raukawa Natives who lived in the 

 immediate vicinity of the land leased. These lands were held 

 on various terms, at various rentals, but it appears that the whole 

 of the rents were paid to, and the leases were made by, a chief of 

 the Raukawa called Nepia Taratoa. And it was only as this old 

 chief felt the touch of Death on his shoulder that he parcelled out 

 portions of the rents to Ngatiapa and a portion to Rangitane. 

 Nepia was the moving and managing spirit in the leasing, as in 

 the consent to the sale of the Rangitikei Block by the Ngatiapa, 

 and the Upper Manawatu or Ahuahirangi Block by Rangitane. 

 The fact that the consent was sought for and given further 

 strengthens the Raukawa claims. 



It must not, however, be assumed that the Rangitane in 

 particular were entirely crushed, at any rate until long after 

 1830. The name of the tribe, perhaps the most warlike of the 

 three, appears in connection with blocks situated far away from 

 the Manawatu district. This was exemplified to me in a some- 

 what startling way at the hearing of the Tipapakuku Block. 

 Mr. Southey Baker was cross-examining one of the claimants as 

 to whether he was one of the Ngatipakapaka. The man ques- 

 tioned, Ihaia te Ngar ra, flew into a violent passion and shouted 

 out, " Yes, I am a Ngatipakapaka, and I will tell you why I am 

 called a Ngatipakapaka. When I was a boy, my father and my 

 uncle and I were hunting a sort of a short-tailed dog, which had 

 been recently introduced, and which we kept as pets. Hoani " 

 [pointing to Hoani Meihana, who sat a little bit away, champing 

 his toothless gums] " and his war-party came across the moun- 

 tains, and they caught us, and they killed us, and cooked us, and 

 overcooked us, and that is why I am called Ngatipakapaka." In 

 the case in question Meihana was allowed in as an equal fifth 

 owner in this block, which was situated beyond Dannevirke. 



To return, however, to the Manawatu-Rangitikei. It is in- 

 disputable that by the clemency of their victors portions of the 

 three tribes returned to inhabit without let or hindrance limited 

 areas in the block, and, as the power of the Government gradually 

 strengthened in the years following 1840, the Ngatiapa, and to a 

 certain extent the Rangitane, who had really been living by the 

 sufferance of the Raukawa, commenced to arrogate to them- 

 selves the position of owners of the land they were occupying. 

 The Muaupoko claim came later. In all cases where through 

 the clemency of the conqueror the original inhabitants had been 

 allowed even a precarious holding, they, as soon as the reign 



