said land so acquired by Raukawa, or of any and what part or parts thereof?

The Court: Does not require answering.

6. What person, if any, of the said Raukawa tribe (if the said tribe acquired ownership) or what persons of any hapu or hapus thereof which acquired ownership, if any, over the said land or any part thereof in January, 1840, have not signed or assented to the cession to the Crown of the land owned by them?

The Court: Cannot be answered yet.

By Ngatiapa is meant all Ngatiapa, including those persons called half-castes. Rangitane (properly so called) and Ngatiteupokoiri are excluded.

NATIVE LAND COURT, WELLINGTON,
25TH SEPTEMBER, 1869.

Rangitikei-Manawatu Land Claims.

The following judgment was delivered by his Honor Judge Maning:

This is a claim made by a native named Akapita for himself and others to certain lands situated between the Manawatu and Rangitikei rivers, and which has been referred to the Native Land Court by the Governor, under provisions made to that effect by the "Native Lands Act, 1865."

The claimants ground their title firstly on conquest, stating that the land in question was conquered from the Ngatiapa tribe, the original possessors, by the Ngatitoa tribe under their chief Te Rauparaha, who subsequently gave, or granted, this land to the Ngatiraukawa tribe, his allies, of which tribe the claimants are members; and secondly, failing the proof of the right by conquest, the claimants claim under any right which it may be proved the Ngatiraukawa tribe, or any sections or hapu of that tribe, may have acquired either by occupation or in any other manner.

This claim by Akapita is opposed by the Crown on the grounds that the original owners, the Ngatiapa, have never been conquered, and that the Ngatiraukawa as a tribe have not acquired any right or interest whatever in the land, and moreover, that the land claimed by Akapita is now the property of the Crown, having been legally purchased from the right owners.

A great mass of evidence has been taken in this case, from which, after eliminating minor matters and everything which has no very important bearing on the matter for decision, the following facts appear to remain.

Before the year 1818 and to that date, or thereabouts, the Ngatiapa tribe were possessors of the land in question, its owners by Maori usage and custom, the land being a part of the tribal territory or estate.

On or about the above date the chief Rauparaha, with the fighting men of his tribe and a party of Ngapuhi warriors armed with firearms, left his settlement at Kawhia and marched to the South with the intention of acquiring by conquest a new territory for himself and tribe. In the course of this expedition he passed through the country of the Ngatiapa, remaining only long enough to ravage the country and drive back to the fastnesses of the mountains the Ngatiapa, who, with some parties of allies or kindred tribes, had attempted resistance, but were at that time obliged to retreat before an enemy armed with firearms.

The invaders then passed on to the southward, and after a series of battles, onslaughts, stratagems and incidents attendant on Maori warfare, but not necessary further to notice here, Te Rauparaha, with the assistance of his Ngapuhi allies, succeeded in possessing himself of a large territory to the north and south of Otaki, the former possessors of which he had defeated, killed or driven off.

After the inroad in which Rauparaha had laid the foundation for a more permanent occupation and conquest, and being therefore, as it would appear, desirous to collect around him as many fighting men as possible—a great object of every native chief in those days of continual war and violence—he returned to Kawhia with the purpose of collecting the remainder of his tribe who had been left at Kawhia and of inviting the whole tribe of Ngatiraukawa to come and settle on the territory which he had then but partially conquered.

It is to be noticed here that on the return land, and that upon this occasion friendly relations and peace were established between them, he returning to them some prisoners he had taken in passing through their country when advancing to the southward; presents were also exchanged, and the nephew of Te Rauparaha, Te Rangihaeata, took to wife with all due formality a chieftainess of the Ngatiapa tribe called Pikinga, notwithstanding that she had been taken prisoner by himself on the occasion of the first inroad into the Ngatiapa country.

After arriving at Kawhia the Ngapuhi returned to their own country, and need not be again mentioned, as they have not made any claim on account of their alliance with Te Rauparaha on the occasion of the first invasion.

About a year after the return of Rauparaha to Kawhia he mustered his tribe and some other followers, and taking also the women and children, he again marched for the South, with the intention of permanently occupying and securing the conquest of the lands which up to this time he had merely overrun.

The effect of the invitation by Te Rauparaha to the Ngatiraukawa tribe to come and settle on his newly acquired lands was, that soon afterwards strong parties of Raukawa came from time to time to Kapiti, partly to examine the new country which had been offered to them, but chiefly, it would appear, moved by the reports which they had heard that gunpowder and firearms were procurable at that place from European traders who, about that time, had commenced a traffic for flax and other native produce. These parties of Raukawa, on their way South, in passing through the country of the Ngatiapa, killed or took prisoners any stragglers of the Ngatiapa or others whom they met with, and who had lingered imprudently behind in the vicinity of the war track, when the prudent but brave war chief of the Ngatiapa had withdrawn the bulk of the tribe into the fastnesses of the country whilst these ruthless invaders passed through, being doubtless unwilling to attack the allies of Te Rauparaha, with whom he had wisely made terms of peace and friendship. In passing through the country of the Ngatiapa these Raukawa parties also took a kind of pro forma, or nominal, possession of the land, which, however, would be entirely invalid except as against parties of passing adventurers like...