CHAPTER IX
"You can inform me, then," said Massinger, "as to the exact manner in which the war commenced."
"I fancy I can. This Waitara block which you have heard about has been the causa belli, in every sense of the word. The Governor, egged on by the Provincial Council of Auckland and the land-buying party in the General Assembly, at length consented to purchase it from Teira."
"I was told in Auckland that the Governor said if a satisfactory title could be given, he would accept the offer which Teira made. That seemed fair enough."
"Nothing less so. First of all, because Teira knew—no one better—that no living native had a right to sell an area of tribal land. There are always scores of claimants to such blocks, the consent of all of whom was necessary. And after and above all this, Te Rangitake, as the Ariki (High Priest and spiritual head) of the tribe, had an unquestioned right to forbid the sale."
"How, then, did Teira come to sell the land?"
"Because he was certain of payment of so much ready money down, and had an old grudge against Te Rangitake. With the Government behind him, he argued, they would be able to force through the bargain. He either did not count on the stubborn resistance of the tribe, or, more likely, did not care.
"He seems to have acted treacherously to his own people and dishonestly towards us."