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I te tau 1890, ka tautohetohe a Te Keepa ki ngā tama a tana hoa tāwhai i mua, a Kāwana Hūnia, mō te mana me ngā hua o te whenua o Mua-ūpoko i Horowhenua i wāwāhia i te tau 1886. Ko tā Te Keepa, nā rāua ko Hūnia te whenua i hoko i runga i te ture kaitiaki, ka whakautua e tētehi o ngā tama a Hūnia, e Wārena, he mea koha kē ki a rātou i runga i tō rātou rangatiratanga.
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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.
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