Extract from a Leading Article of the Wellington Independent, 13th December, 1866.

The Manawatu Purchase.

"By the overland mail we have received further intelligence from Rangitikei. It is estimated that there are now some fifteen hundred Natives at Parewanui, about a thousand of whom are males. The tribes represented at the meeting are the Ngatiapa, the Rangitane, the Ngatiraukawa, the Wanganui, the Muaupoko, the Ngatitoa, the Ngatiawa, the Ngatikahununu, and the Ngatiupokoiri. * * * The Ngatiapa proposed that they should take £22,000, and satisfy therefrom the claims of the Rangitane, Wanganui, Muaupoko, Ngatiupokoiri and Ngatikahununu, and that the balance of £3,000 should be handed over to the Ngatiraukawa and Ngatitoa. * * * The Ngatiraukawa chiefs on the other hand insisted that the purchase money should be divided into two equal sums, the Ngatiapa undertaking to satisfy the claims of all tribes north of the Rangitikei River, and the Ngatiraukawa those of the tribes south of the river."