Kāwhia, 27 August 1840

The 12th signature gained for the Treaty of Waitangi in Kāwhia was that of Ngāmotu, a Ngāti Maniapoto rangatira (chief). His signature has no specific witness, but is part of the series of signatures gained in Kāwhia by the local Wesleyan (Methodist) missionaries, James Wallis and John Whiteley.

They had been sent the Manukau-Kāwhia treaty sheet on 8 April by W.C. Symonds, a recently appointed police magistrate responsible for collecting signatures in the Manukau and Waikato regions. As news of the gifts given at Waitangi and Hokianga had preceded the arrival of the treaty in this region, blankets were also sent to the missionaries to be given out as gifts to the signatories. Symonds made it clear in his instructions that the blankets should not be seen as bribes or payment for signatures. Wallis and Whiteley carried out their task of gaining signatures at Kāwhia on six different occasions over several months.