On 25 August the Council resolved to disqualify him formally. Several members defended Taiaroa's personal integrity, and it was noted that when three European members of the House of Representatives had been similarly disqualified, they were immediately indemnified. The case aroused much bitterness and resentment among Maori around the country, and was a bitter blow to Taiaroa. The MHR for Southern Maori, Ihaia Tainui, resigned to allow him to be re-elected to this seat. Taiaroa resigned his assessorship in January 1881.In May 1885 Taiaroa was again called to the Legislative Council, where he remained until his death. He continued to press the government for recognition of the Ngai Tahu claims. In 1886 John Ballance, as native minister, agreed to the appointment of Judge Alexander Mackay as commissioner to report 'on the Middle Island Native Land Question'. In 1887 Mackay reported that 186,112 acres of additional land were required to provide adequately for Ngai Tahu in the Murihiku and Kemp blocks, including Banks Peninsula. The following year the Atkinson ministry set up a joint parliamentary committee to 'bring about a final settlement', but Taiaroa was not included, although he was called on to give evidence. The committee recommended a further inquiry.In 1890 Mackay was appointed commissioner to ascertain the degree of landlessness among Ngai Tahu. He reported that 46 per cent of Ngai Tahu had insufficient land for their support and 44 per cent had none. Taiaroa and Tame Parata, MHR for Southern Maori, continued in Parliament to press the government for some action, and in the recess of 189293 they accompanied the native minister, A. J. Cadman, when he toured Ngai Tahu settlements. Cadman proposed allocating 90,466 acres, mainly remote bushland in western Southland and Stewart Island. Taiaroa announced in the Legislative Council that Ngai Tahu would accept this land, but not in settlement of their claims, as the land was considered practically worthless for settlement. The government finally awarded this land to Ngai Tahu the year after Taiaroa's death, under the South Island Landless Natives Act 1906.After W. B. D. Mantell's death in 1895 Taiaroa claimed that Mantell's promise to his father of a reserve at Anita Bay was for 'at least 1,000 acres', not 100, and he asked the premier, Richard Seddon, for land to be awarded to him in some other locality. He claimed to Seddon that he had been a party to the Murihiku purchase, although some years earlier he had strongly denied this, stating that his mark on one of the receipts, written when he was a boy, had been forged. The government in 1898 agreed to grant Taiaroa only the 100 acres at Anita Bay as a final settlement. Eventually, two years after Taiaroa's death, an inquiry by two judges of the Native Land Court ruled the family's claim for £5,000 in compensation to be unfounded, but recommended that £53 be paid 'as an act of grace'. In 1909 Hori Kerei's sons Te Oti and Riki accepted this money on the family's behalf.To Hori Kerei Taiaroa the Ngai Tahu claims were a matter of family mana as well as justice for his tribe. He revived his father's dubious claim to be paramount chief of Ngai Tahu. In keeping with his father's testament he concentrated on claims arising from the three purchases to which his father had been a signatory the Otago purchase of 1844, Kemp's purchase of 1848 and the Murihiku purchase of 1853 and also the Akaroa purchase of 1856 in which Ngai Te Ruahikihiki had a customary interest. Taiaroa showed little interest in claims arising from the Port Cooper, Port Levy, North Canterbury, Kaikoura and Arahura purchases, which affected hapu in which he had few connections. He at times incurred displeasure from other Ngai Tahu for siding with the government against them.Taiaroa took an important role in wider Maori politics. He attended many meetings around the country, particularly those of Te Kotahitanga. In 1893 he presented a bill to the Kotahitanga parliament, asking for power of assembly for the Maori parliament, but not separate Maori government. The debate over this and a more radical bill presented by Hone Heke created a rift within the Kotahitanga movement which was never resolved.By his Maori contemporaries Taiaroa was regarded as a competent and pragmatic politician. As an MHR he was often praised for his outspoken criticism of the government. However, after his appointment to the Legislative Council he was regarded with suspicion by some as becoming pro-government. In political life his reputation suffered from a tendency to overstate his case and at times contradict himself, especially regarding his own and his father's affairs. He did not stand up well under hostile cross-examination on the claims, and his financial dealings were sometimes viewed with suspicion. But he vigorously advanced the Ngai Tahu cause in Parliament in an often lonely battle against impossible odds. In the nature of colonial politics his efforts were doomed to failure, and in the last decade of his life, in failing health, he saw his hopes of a parliamentary settlement of the Ngai Tahu claims disappointed.Hori Kerei Taiaroa died at Wellington on 4 August 1905. He was buried in the churchyard at Otakou. He was survived by his wife, Tini, and four sons, Te One Wiwi, Te Oti Kerei, Riki Te Mairaki and Hoani Korako. Two sons, Matenga Kerei (Te Maateka) and Apa, had died before him. By Harry C. Evison (NZ Dictionary of Biography)