,044 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



As early as 1843, disputes between the settlers of New Plymouth and the Maoris, as 

 to the ownership of certain lands, led to a decision by Governor Fitzroy that territory 

 acquired by a tribe through conquest did not altogether pass away from the conquered, 

 but that they still had some rights in it. As a consequence, the original fugitives 

 from Taranaki, dispersed in prehistoric times by Te Wherowhero's incursion, began to 

 migrate back again. Among others came Wiremu Kingi te Rangitake (William King), 

 chief of Ngatiawa, with six hundred people from Otaki, and settled down on their 

 ancestral lands on the southern bank of the Waitara River, ten miles from New 

 Plymouth. These returned emigrants were characterized by a strong disinclination to 

 part with their patrimony to the Europeans, who were correspondingly eager to buy. 

 The native community of ownership formed another and very prominent ingredient of 

 the difficulties which arose. 



The Taranaki tribes formed an Anti-land-selling League ; and, in order to invest the 

 compact with due solemnity, buried a Bible in the earth, and raised a cairn of stones 

 over the spot. In 1854, a chief named Rawiri Waiaua, who held aloof from the 

 League, probably for the very practical reason that he drew a salary from the 

 Government as an assessor, offered to sell a portion of the Hua block which belonged 

 to him. As he was interested, in common with the principal Leaguers, in the remainder 

 of the block, the Government Commissioner urged him to sell out his entire rights, 



o o 



remarking that the portion he offered was too small to be worth buying. Rawiri 

 pointed out that in the bulk of the block he had only a joint interest, and that his 

 co-owners were strongly averse to a sale. The Commissioner, however, was insistent, 

 and Rawiri, yielding at last against his better judgment, announced his decision to sell. 

 \\ ;iitere Katotore and the other owners warned him that if he attempted to bring the 

 surveyor's chain on the land he would have to come armed, as they were resolved to 

 resist him. Rawiri assembled his forces and took the chain to the land. Katatore, who 

 was present in command of sixty armed followers, requested him to desist, and, as 

 Rawiri declined, ordered his men to fire a volley. The order was obeyed, and Rawiri 

 and seven of his men were slain, while ten others were wounded. Both settlers and 

 friendly natives appealed to the Government, but the Authorities were slow to act. 

 Xot so the natives. Arama Karaka, Rawiri's successor, was already on the war-path, 

 and a conflict between his forces and those of Katatore resulted in twelve men being- 

 slain and sixteen wounded. The disturbance spread far and wide, and a panic having 

 seized the settlers, the Government, in August, 1855, sent four hundred and fifty- 

 soldiers of the Fifty-eighth and Sixty-fifth Regiments, under Major Nugent, to New 

 Plymouth. Governor Grey had left for England at the end of 1853, and Colonel 

 Wynyard, the officer administering the Government, followed the troops to New Ply- 

 mouth, accompanied by Tamati Waka Nene, Te Wherowhero and Te Puni. After 

 investigating the circumstances of the affair, he declined to avenge the murder of 

 Rawiri, holding that that chief was killed for offering to sell land which did not 

 belong to him. Two hundred and fifty soldiers of the Sixty-fifth were left at New 

 Plymouth to protect the settlers. The inter-tribal strife was resumed without inter- 

 ference from the Government, and, at last, Katatore and his half-brother were foully 

 murdered by a chief named Ihaia (Isaac), who was also allowed to escape free. This 



