 In the 1876 election, he was one of three candidates in the Western Maori electorate and came last, beaten by Hoani Nahi and Te Keepa Te Rangihiwinui.Parata is perhaps best remembered for the court case which bears his name.In 1877, he took Octavius Hadfield, the Bishop of Wellington, to the Supreme Court, over a breach of oral contract between the Anglican Church and the Ngati Toa, and a breach of the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi.