Emery said Featherston was “an unprincipled corrupter of proper process to suit his own ends” and a “talented but perverted propagandist”. “He chose to be willingly ignorant of those moral and legal norms that Māori needed to retain the lands they wished to keep . The consequence for the hapū of the Ngāti Raukawa confederation was they became one of the most landless tribes in the country. “This was to put Ngāti Raukawa behind nearly every other tribe in maintaining their culture and in building the economic base that was needed for their survival.” Emery said the Raukawa people didn’t want to sell, but were led to believe there was nothing they could do except sell so they could secure land reserves, but it didn t eventuate.
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