THE TE AROHA BLOCK.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 4945, 27 January 1877, Page 3

THE TE AROHA BLOCK.

The Auckland Star has the following respecting the Te Aroha block:—The Te Aroha block has a singular history. It has a history which could scarcely find a parallel in any other country on the face of the globe. The 1 confusion which was inseparable from the old; Maori system of land tenure, which was prac-i tically no system at all, has been an endless: source of complication, annoyance, expense,; and bloodshed in tho endeavor to define inter- i tribal boundaries, and fix'the titles. TheTe; Aroha block is a notable example. The investigation of proprietary claims to this block was commenced in the Laud Court at Auckland some years ago, and resulted in the land being awarded to the Ngatihaua tribe of Waikato. The Ohinemuri natives no sooner became aware of this decision, than they challenged Us justice, and stoutly demanded a rehearing, which was granted. Both sides en "aged an array of forensic talent, big briefs weWbuilt up on the strength of the security which the laud offered, and the old fable of the oyster and the shell very :• nearly' found a modem illustration. This time the Court admitted the Ohinemuri natives as coproprietors of Te Aroha. The effect of this decision upon the minds of the Waikatos was puzzling in the extreme. In their rough and ready way of reasoning, the two judgments were paradoxical; no amount of logic could reconcile the two contradictory tikanga. They waited on Sir Donald McLean and protested they desired, to know whether his maua (power, or authority) was not sufficient to override and extinguish the simple tikanga of a mere Kaiwhakawa, or Judge. The late Native Minister promised to inauire into the matter, and there it rested for some time. But then a new claimant suddenly came on the scene in the person of the renowned chief Tarnati Waka. This claim to Te Aroha was based on irrefragable grounds. Many years ago he headed a Ngapuhi war party who built a pa on the land, and exterminnted the ancestors of the miserable remnant who now had the audacity to put forward a claim to the laud. The process of extermation was so effectual as to leave no room for doubt—Tamati Waka and his braves had simply eaten the original proprietors, and as a

matter of course incorporated their proprietary rights. And the proofs were no less clear and undeniable ; there were the remains of the pa.: and there were also the clean-picked bones of the original owneis of Te Aroha, bleaching in the sun and rain. Tamati Waka, however, like a distinguished rangatira, considered it beneath his dignity to contest his claim, so long as the miserable and enslaved remnants of the defunct and devoured did not put on any airs, or endeavor to assert their mana over the block. But this does not exhaust the list of claimants. The Ngatihauas of Tamahere also claimed through their ancestors, and, to cap the complications, Tawhiao declared that all the previous claimants were usurpers, and that he himself was lord of the manor. Under these circumstances, the ingenuity of the Native Office shone out in all its brilliancy. After lengthy negotiations it was finally arranged that the Thames natives should receive £2OOO, Te Wheoro's party £BSO, and the Tamahere natives £1250. At tho last meeting between the late Sir Donald McLean and Tawhiao, it was hinted by the former that the sum of £SOO would be forthcoming in consideration of Tawhiao relinquishing his claim, but that potentate did not appear to be at all anxious to come to terms. It may be mentioned here that at one stage of the affair two opposing parties of natives, numbering each nearly 400, and fully armed, were in occupation of the Te Aroha block, and that a collision was only prevented by the exertions of Mr. Commissioner Kemp and others.