Te Keepa Te Rangihiwinui (Major Kemp) was the main negotiator with the government but due to shady deals he was in debt as the land grab in NZ spread.

Under the New Zealand Settlements Act 1863 the government confiscated 1.2 million acres (486,000 hectares) of Maori land in late 1864. Kemp in The Horowhenua was forced to give and sell land to the Government agents who wanted legal fees, cheap grazing and survey costs which were unknown at the time. Maori lost a great deal of its lands and Pākehā settlers would occupy the confiscated land while successive governments would bring in new laws like the Public Works Acts to confiscate even more lands. The Government in 2012 will not negotiate with the direct descendents hence urban authorities with indirect links to our Tipuna Chiefs are now taking place yet it is an injustice to Maoridom. The tactics being used and the government departments who oversee are intent on ending the Waitangi Claims--- yet they are too blame for what is happening

In March 1889 a conference of Te Kotahitanga at Orakei was attended by some 500 Maori and a notable representation of Pakeha, including the premier, Harry Atkinson, and the attorney general, Frederick Whitaker. Te Keepa made an impressive speech. The aim of the movement, he declared, was to unify the races as one people, yet preserve unity of purpose among the Maori. The Treaty of Waitangi should be ratified on the basis of equality and a sharing of mana. This appeal for equality was rejected by the government.
In 1890 Te Keepa found himself embroiled with the sons of his old rival, Kawana Hunia, over control of and rents from Muaupoko land at Horowhenua in the aftermath of the 1886 subdivision. Te Keepa claimed that the land in question had been sold by himself and Hunia in trust for the Muaupoko tribe, and one of Hunia's sons, Warena Hunia, counter-claimed that it was a gift to them as rangatira. The protracted dispute was exacerbated by Pakeha interference: the minister of lands, John McKenzie, purchased a large section from Warena Hunia for a state farm, while Te Keepa's lawyer, the rapacious Walter Buller, took his fee in the form of a mortgage over a piece of land. Supreme Court hearings and rehearings, parliamentary committee hearings, debates, a parliamentary bill and finally a royal commission in 1896 wore down the physical, spiritual and financial resources of the ageing warrior.

Te Keepa Te Rangihiwinui died at Putiki on 15 April 1898, and was buried there on 24 April. His last recorded words were: 'Sell no more land, keep the remainder you have as sustenance for the Maori people'. His leadership descended to his daughter, Wiki Taitoko.

Sources to read

Horowhenua County and its People—A Dreaver 1984.
The Whanganui Story 1972 Smart & Bates.