3.8.1

What is apparent from evidence given by the likes of Te Rangihuatau and Parahi Panikena is that Ngati Kahukurapango and Ngati Maringi both had strong connections to the Manganui a Te Ao valley and, although they maintained their separate kin-group identities, they lived and worked at least some of the time together. One witness stated that they were ‘equally interested in the lands at Manganui a Te Ao, Waimarino and extending to Owhango’. 417
Another witness provided evidence in the same vein:

I know the hapu Ngati Maringi; we have a claim to Waimarino proper. Matuahu being our chief; from there we own land as far as the junction of the Whakapapa and Whanganui rivers.
Matuahu being the principal owner. Ngati Kahukurapango being on the same land; they also rest at Manganui a Te Ao; Ngati Kahukurapango and Ngati Maringi live together; I cannot trace boundaries. We have cultivations at Owhango; we have eel weirs at Otaupouri. 418

3.8.2

Rangihuatau also supported the previous evidence when he described the extent of Ngati Maringi’s estate:

I am a member of Ngati Maringi iwi/hapu, that hapu has a large claim on this block… I can give the boundaries of the land of Ngati Maringi beginning at Waipapa thence to Whakapairangi at no 2 in red pencil. Waipapa is at no1 in red pencil from Whakapairangi thence to Matahiwi/hapu following the Hikumutu stream, to Hunoa on the Hikumutu stream, on to Kopanga and thence to Porere and thence to point of commencement. 419

3.8.3

Rangihuatau stated that Ngati Maringi had other areas of interest, including at Waitea and Ohonga, but he was unable to provide boundaries.420 Rangihuatau identified the key leaders of Ngati Maringi as Te Oro, Matuahu and Te Kuru. He stated that Te Kuru was a younger relative of his, but that, ‘He is a greater man than I because I give him my mana. Matuahu and Te Piki are in the same position’. 421

3.8.4

Later, the sale of Waimarino block gained widespread notoriety. However, many Ngati Kahukurapango and Ngati Maringi affiliates refused to be passive observers to the diminishing of their estate in Waimarino. When the Crown proposed taking 128
acres of Waimarino 4B2 for a scenic reserve, in 1912 Haitana Te Kauhi and eight other owners petitioned the Minister of Works and asked that the Government send representatives to Raetihi to consult with the owners. 422
The Crown declined the invitation and the Under-Secretary for Public Works dismissed the petitioners’ concerns as irrelevant. 423

3.8.5

What can be drawn from the preceding data is that members of Ngati Kahukurapango and Ngati Maringi, whilst maintaining their own identities, both had strong connections to the Manganui a Te Ao valley and often lived and worked together.
Representatives in the land court hearings often provided evidence on a co-operative basis. Witnesses also often proclaimed their whakapapa associations to the more distant tupuna Tamakana.

3.8.6

Maringi was a descendant of Tamakana. 424

Tamakana
|
Marukohara
|
Tangohara
|
Hinemouo
|
Te Kawa
|
Maringi

3.8.7

His wife Te Maitautahanga was also a descendant of Tamakana; Tukaiora Pikikotuku gave her whakapapa at the Taurewa hearing. 425