Wiremu Kīngi's letter to the governor

In April 1859 Governor Thomas Gore Browne wrote to both Te Teira and Wiremu Kīngi, the men at the centre of the disputed land sale at Waitara. Te Teira assured the governor that ‘no other person’s rights were infringed’ by his offer. Gore Browne had decided that Kīngi had no customary rights at Waitara, because when the first European settlers arrived in Taranaki he had been living on the Kāpiti Coast. Kīngi did not challenge Te Teira’s title directly, but argued that as Māori and Pākehā were living in peace it would be wise to let matters lie. He stressed that the land would not be given up – ‘not till death’.