Kopa (possibly Kapa) signed the Treaty of Waitangi on 28 April 1840 at Kaitāia.
At the hui he said:
he had heard the same stories [that the governor was here to kill them and take the land for Pākehā], but urged open discussion. ‘If you have anything good or bad to say – say it now. The Missionaries came for our good and they side with the Governor … Let us hear what you have to say now – don’t go home and sit grumbling in your houses.’ [1]
He also noted, ‘If your actions are like those of the Missionaries we would not be afraid of you – but I fear the soldiers’. [2]
[1] Adrienne Puckey, Trading cultures: a history of the Far North, Huia, Wellington, 2011, p. 39
[2] Quoted in Trading cultures, p. 39