[68] Mr. Gilbert Mair was a merchant at Kororareka. Mr. James E. Clendon was likewise a merchant there, and had been Assistant British Resident at Hokianga. He was at this period U.S.A. Consul. [69] Meaning the Proclamation referring to land titles. [70] Colenso repudiates the suggestion that the speeches were not properly interpreted, and explains that Maori oratory is redundant with repetition which, of course, was very properly eliminated during the course of the translation. [71] The Bishop of Australia thus wrote to Mr. Williams on the subject of the Missionaries' land claims: "I am led to believe that the immediate consequence of establishing the British Dominion will be the settlement of titles to land according to the principles of law and equity. This proceeding will necessarily lead to a judicial investigation of the landed properties transmitted to the Society. These should be exactly and jealously re-examined, that you may be prepared to sustain them, even to the minutest point when brought under the scrutiny of the world at large, as beyond all doubt they will be. I think also that it will be expedient that you should take advantage of the warning thus given of what you are to expect, by preparing a most full and explicit account of all the transactions between you and any of the natives." [72] This native had been actually christened at his own request as "King George," Mr. Williams having taken the responsibility of reversing the names, and entering them in that form in the Register. [73] This was not the great Titore, who was the first to commence the felling of kauri spars for the Navy, but another chief of the same name. Titore Nui (the great) signed the Treaty under the name of Takiri. [74] The Rev. R. Taylor relates an instance in which Tareha was about to despatch a slave for some real or imaginary offence. Mr. Kemp, one of the Missionaries interposed, and could not be persuaded to let the killing go on. Whereupon Tareha picked him up (for he was a small man) and carried him over to his cottage, deposited him inside, and told Mrs. Kemp to shut him up and keep him out of harm's way. He then returned to the business on hand. On another occasion the Missionaries discovered Tareha in a choking condition, a fish bone having lodged in his throat. He being _tapu_ (sacred) none of his people dared touch him, but after considerable labour the Missionaries succeeded in dislodging the bone with the aid of a pair of scissors. After he had recovered, the punctilious Tareha claimed the scissors as payment for the desecration of his sacred throat. [75] Here he held up the canoe paddle, which he had used dramatically throughout his oration. [76] This was a reference to the New Testament, which had just been printed in the native language at the Missionary Press, at Paihia, and circulated amongst the tribes.