278 
PRE-EMPTION. 
a letter to the Ngatirua-nui and Taranaki natives, calling a 
meeting at a central place, Mana-wapou : there the natives 
erected a very large building, the largest, perhaps, which has 
ever been made in New Zealand, being 120 feet in length, by 35 
in width; this was named Tai poro henui, or the finishing of 
matter, and there all the head Chiefs from Wellington to the 
Waitara, a distance of near three hundred miles, assembled. 
Five hundred were present, and much speaking and bad spirit 
was displayed. The result of it was, their determination to 
sell no more land to the Government, and to hinder any who 
felt disposed from doing so. It was not many months after this 
meeting that a Chief at New Plymouth did offer his land for 
sale, and, when he went to mark out the boundaries, he was 
shot with several of his tribe, which led to reprisals, and 
there is much fear that the evil will extend. The natives 
feel, the more land is sold the more are they weakened ; and 
their feeling is correct, so long as they are denied equal 
privileges with ourselves. When they find the parting with 
their surplus land is not also parting with their political exis¬ 
tence, then, I am persuaded, there will be no difficulty in 
obtaining, at an equitable rate, that land which they, from the 
smallness of their numbers, cannot make use of. 
Another thing is also to be borne in mind, viz., that all the 
central tribes are independent; it was only a few who signed 
the treaty, not more than a dozen tribes; the rest are as 
independent now as they were before the landing of Captain 
Hobson, for, by our own declaration, they were proclaimed 
independent. And now it becomes us to show, that if they lay 
aside that independence, they really gain something. Hitherto, 
our gain has been evident; theirs more doubtful. It is the 
perfect union of the two, that will lay the foundation of future 
greatness,—let it be done by basing the fabric on justice. 
By the treaty of Waitangi, the right of Pre-emption was 
granted to the Crown, which means that no land should be sold 
by the natives to private individuals, but only to the Crown. 
It is a great question whether this exclusive privilege has been 
beneficial, or,rather, whether it has not been positively injurious. 
