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Disagreement about the opening of Te Waihora
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TitleDisagreement about the opening of Te Waihora 
DescriptionThe approach of Ngāi Tahu to opening Te Waihora was and is 'to work with the lake rather than against it' (D. Jolly, 2013).
With European settlement, following the signing of Kemp's Deed in 1848, larger scale drainage and flood management replaced water quality and fish migration as the drivers for lake openings.
Walter Mantell, the official tasked with carving out reserves for Māori following the Deed signing, wrote to Sir William Rolleston on 12 April 1866, about his blunt conversations with Ngāti Ruahikihiki about the opening of the lake. Here Rolleston relays this information to Natanahira Waruwarutu of Rāpāki:
Friend Natanahira,—
Wellington, 23rd April, 1866.
Salutations. Colonel Russell has referred your letter of the 1st February to Mr. Mantell, and asked him to state whether any promise was made with regard to the eel-weirs of the Maoris at Lake Ellesmere, when he paid for the land.
Mr. Mantell says that at Waihora he showed Maopo, Pohau, and others of the Kaiteruahikihiki interested at Taumutu, that although years might elapse ere their old style of breaking down the dam might be interfered with, the stoppage of the outlet must so seriously affect the drainage of so large an extent of country that the Government must be free to do as it pleased with regard to it.
If therefore the Superintendent were draining the lake, he would not wrong the Maoris; but he is not draining the lake. Enough.
Your friend,
W. Rolleston.
To Natanahira Waruwarutu, Rapaki.
DescriptionThe approach of Ngāi Tahu to opening Te Waihora was and is 'to work with the lake rather than against it' (D. Jolly, 2013). With European settlement, following the signing of Kemp's Deed in 1848, larger scale drainage and flood management replaced water quality and fish migration as the drivers for lake openings.
Walter Mantell, the official tasked with carving out reserves for Māori following the Deed signing, wrote to Sir William Rolleston on 12 April 1866, about his blunt conversations with Ngāti Ruahikihiki about the opening of the lake. Here Rolleston relays this information to Natanahira Waruwarutu of Rāpāki:
Friend Natanahira,—
Wellington, 23rd April, 1866.
Salutations. Colonel Russell has referred your letter of the 1st February to Mr. Mantell, and asked him to state whether any promise was made with regard to the eel-weirs of the Maoris at Lake Ellesmere, when he paid for the land.
Mr. Mantell says that at Waihora he showed Maopo, Pohau, and others of the Kaiteruahikihiki interested at Taumutu, that although years might elapse ere their old style of breaking down the dam might be interfered with, the stoppage of the outlet must so seriously affect the drainage of so large an extent of country that the Government must be free to do as it pleased with regard to it.
If therefore the Superintendent were draining the lake, he would not wrong the Maoris; but he is not draining the lake. Enough.
Your friend,
W. Rolleston.
To Natanahira Waruwarutu, Rapaki.
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Disagreement about the opening of Te Waihora . Selwyn Stories, accessed 20/06/2026, https://selwynstories.selwynlibraries.co.nz/nodes/view/6689