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The Waitangi Tribunal released its second preliminary report on Te Tau Ihu customary rights on 3 September 2007. This report follows an earlier preliminary report released in March 2007. The Tribunal has prepared these reports to assist claimants and the Crown with their negotiations by providing early findings on customary rights and their treatment by the Crown. The Tribunal’s main Te Tau Ihu report will address the remaining issues in the Northern South Island inquiry.

The Tribunal panel comprises Judge Wilson Isaac (presiding officer), Rangitihi Tahuparae, John Clarke, Professor Keith Sorrenson, and Pam Ringwood.

Their second preliminary report concerns the customary rights of Te Tau Ihu iwi in the area defined by Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu Act 1996 as the Ngai Tahu takiwa. The Tribunal found that the six Te Tau Ihu iwi that advanced claims with respect to the takiwa – Ngati Apa, Rangitane, Ngati Toa Rangatira, Ngati Rarua, Ngati Tama, and Te Atiawa – had valid customary rights in the takiwa, overlapping the acknowledged rights of Ngai Tahu.

On the east coast, the Tribunal found that Rangitane, Ngati Toa, and Ngai Tahu had legitimate overlapping customary rights in the area between Parinui-o-whiti and Waiau-toa. On the West Coast, the Tribunal found that Ngati Rarua, Ngati Tama, Te Atiawa, Ngati Toa, Ngati Apa, and Ngai Tahu had legitimate overlapping customary rights between Kawatiri and Kahurangi. The rights varied, depending on the iwi, but none of the rights had been extinguished prior to Crown purchasing from 1847.

The Tribunal found that the rights of all these iwi were protected and guaranteed by the Treaty. Notwithstanding this, the Crown extinguished the vast majority of these interests in a series of purchases between 1847 and 1860 without determining the correct right-holders or obtaining their full and free consent.

In 1847, the Tribunal found, the Government extorted the Wairau block from three chiefs in Wellington, thus disenfranchising all other Ngati Toa, Ngati Rarua, and Rangitane people. Then, in 1853, the Government arranged a cession of all Ngati Toa’s interests in the South Island by an unfair manipulation. From 1854 to 1856, it used this cession (the Waipounamu purchase) to obtain the interests of all the other Te Tau Ihu tribes without their free and full consent. These actions, the Tribunal concluded, were in plain breach of the Treaty and its principles.

The Tribunal found that Ngai Tahu’s interests in the northern part of the takiwa were also extinguished through a series of blanket purchases from 1848, concluding with the Kaikoura purchase (1859) on the east coast and the Arahura purchase (1860) on the west. In the Kaikoura transaction, the Crown neither inquired into nor considered Ngati Toa or Rangitane rights. Ngati Toa’s interests in the northern part of the takiwa had been inadequately acknowledged in the Wairau purchase and were not reconsidered in the Kaikoura transaction. The Crown had altogether failed either to inquire into or to consider Rangitane’s interests on this part of the coast and these interests were unfairly extinguished through the Kaikoura purchase, in breach of the Treaty and its principles.

On the West Coast, the Tribunal considered that the rights of Ngati Toa, Ngati Rarua, Ngati Tama, and Te Atiawa had been inadequately acknowledged in the Waipounamu purchase and were not reconsidered during the negotiations for Arahura. The Crown had never inquired into Ngati Apa’s customary rights and once more failed to do so in the Arahura transaction. Ngati Apa were only belatedly considered, and the Government made no inquiry into the extent of their interests. This limited and belated acknowledgement precluded Ngati Apa’s informed consent and was, in the opinion of the Tribunal, in breach of the Treaty and its principles.

The Tribunal further considered that these historical breaches against Te Tau Ihu iwi continued into the twentieth century when the Crown chose to deal exclusively with Ngai Tahu in the Ngai Tahu takiwa, at the expense of Te Tau Ihu iwi who also had legitimate rights in the area. On the basis of a Maori Appellate Court finding in 1990 that Ngai Tahu had sole rights of ownership in the Kaikoura and Arahura blocks at the time of the sale to the Crown, the Government has since dealt exclusively with Ngai Tahu.

The boundaries of the takiwa were statutorily defined in Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu Act 1996 and the Ngai Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998.The Tribunal pointed out that there is nothing in this legislation that prevents the Government from considering Te Tau Ihu iwi interests within the takiwa. The legislation is not in itself in breach of the Treaty, rather the breach lies in the way in which the Government has interpreted it. Te Tau Ihu iwi interests were ignored during the negotiation and settlement of the Ngai Tahu claim. The Tribunal concluded that the Crown had failed to consult adequately with Te Tau Ihu iwi during this process and assets that could potentially have been included in future settlement with Te Tau Ihu iwi were vested in the sole ownership of Ngai Tahu. This exclusive treatment had continued since the settlement, to the detriment of Te Tau Ihu iwi.

On 22 November 2008, the Waitangi Tribunal released its final report on the Treaty claims of iwi and hapu of Te Tau Ihu (northern South Island). The eight recognised iwi are Ngati Apa, Ngati Koata, Ngati Kuia, Ngati Rarua, Ngati Tama, Ngati Toa Rangatira, Te Atiawa, and Rangitane. The report had earlier been released as an incomplete pre-publication edition in order to help with the claimants in their settlement negotiations with the Crown.

The Tribunal inquiry panel comprised Maori land Court Deputy Chief Judge Wilson Isaac (presiding officer), Professor Keith Sorrenson, Pam Ringwood, and John Clarke. The late Rangitihi Tahuparae, a respected kaumatua of Whanganui, passed away on 2 October 2008 between the completion of the report and its publication.

In its report, the Tribunal found that many acts and omissions of the Crown breached the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. In particular, the Tribunal concluded that ownership of all but a tiny fraction of land in the Te Tau Ihu district was lost to Maori without first gaining their free, informed, and meaningful consent to the alienations. Nor did the Crown ensure that fair prices were paid and sufficient lands retained by the iwi for their own requirements.

The Tribunal finds that, contrary to Treaty principles, the Crown granted lands at Nelson and Golden Bay to the New Zealand Company without first ensuring that all customary owners were fairly dealt with. It then proceeded with its own large-scale Wairau and Waipounamu purchases, making predetermined decisions as to ownership which ignored the rights of many Te Tau Ihu Maori or left them with little meaningful choice over the alienation of their lands.

As a result, by as early as 1860 Te Tau Ihu Maori had lost most of their original estate. Thereafter, the Crown failed to actively protect their interests in those lands which remained to them. It also failed to protect their just rights and interests in valued natural resources. Despite petitions from Maori and repeated reports from its own officials, the Crown failed to protect or provide for Maori interests and rights in their customary fisheries and other resources. The result of these failures was grinding poverty, social dislocation, and loss of culture.

The Tribunal found that the totality of Treaty breaches were serious and caused significant social, economic, cultural, and spiritual prejudice to all iwi of Te Tau Ihu. These breaches, the Tribunal considered, required large and culturally appropriate redress.

In an attempt to assist Te Tau Ihu Treaty settlements, the Tribunal made several recommendations for remedies. Having regard in particular to the relatively even spread in terms of social and economic prejudice across all eight Te Tau Ihu iwi, the Tribunal recommended that the total quantum of financial and commercial redress be divided equally between them.

The Tribunal also recommended that site-specific cultural redress should be discussed collectively with all groups involved in Te Tau Ihu Treaty negotiations and that the unique claim of Ngati Apa, whose customary interests within Te Tau Ihu were never extinguished by any kind of deed of cession, needed special recognition. The Tribunal found the Crown’s repeated failure to properly recognise and deal with the Kurahaupo iwi as the legitimate tangata whenua (alongside the northern tribes) of Te Tau Ihu to be a serious breach. It recommended that the Crown take steps to fully recognise and restore the mana of the Kurahaupo iwi.

The Tribunal recommended that the settlement of historical grievances relating to Wakatu Incorporation was most appropriately a matter to be concluded between the Crown and Te Tau Ihu iwi and that matters affecting the shareholders of Wakatu Incorporation since its establishment in 1977 should be resolved between the incorporation and the Crown. It recommended that the Crown enter into parallel negotiations with the Ngati Rarua Atiawa Iwi Trust, with a view to bringing the Whakarewa (Motueka) leases into line with the 1997 Maori reserved lands settlement.

The Tribunal’s report highlighted a number of shortcomings with respect to the current ‘offer-back’ regime under the Public Works Act 1981. It recommended amendments to the Te Ture Whenua Maori Act 1993 and the Public Works Act to address these issues.

The Tribunal also highlighted problems with resource and fishery management regimes and recommended changes and improvements to ensure that these regimes were more consistent with the Treaty. The Crown admitted that the Resource Management Act 1991 was not being implemented in a manner that provided fairly for Maori interests.

Finally, the Tribunal made recommendations with respect to the customary interests of Te Tau Ihu iwi within the statutorily defined Ngai Tahu takiwa. Te Tau Ihu iwi lost the ability to recover their interests in lands within the takiwa, which have been vested in Ngai Tahu as a result of earlier Crown settlement. The Tribunal strongly recommended that the Crown take urgent action to ensure that these breaches did not continue. It also recommended that the Crown negotiate with those Te Tau Ihu iwi identified in the report as having customary interests within the statutorily defined Ngai Tahu takiwa to agree on equitable compensation.

On 22 November 2008, the Waitangi Tribunal released its final report on the Treaty claims of iwi and hapu of Te Tau Ihu (northern South Island). The eight recognised iwi are Ngati Apa, Ngati Koata, Ngati Kuia, Ngati Rarua, Ngati Tama, Ngati Toa Rangatira, Te Atiawa, and Rangitane. The report had earlier been released as an incomplete pre-publication edition in order to help with the claimants in their settlement negotiations with the Crown.

The Tribunal inquiry panel comprised Maori land Court Deputy Chief Judge Wilson Isaac (presiding officer), Professor Keith Sorrenson, Pam Ringwood, and John Clarke. The late Rangitihi Tahuparae, a respected kaumatua of Whanganui, passed away on 2 October 2008 between the completion of the report and its publication.

In its report, the Tribunal found that many acts and omissions of the Crown breached the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. In particular, the Tribunal concluded that ownership of all but a tiny fraction of land in the Te Tau Ihu district was lost to Maori without first gaining their free, informed, and meaningful consent to the alienations. Nor did the Crown ensure that fair prices were paid and sufficient lands retained by the iwi for their own requirements.

The Tribunal finds that, contrary to Treaty principles, the Crown granted lands at Nelson and Golden Bay to the New Zealand Company without first ensuring that all customary owners were fairly dealt with. It then proceeded with its own large-scale Wairau and Waipounamu purchases, making predetermined decisions as to ownership which ignored the rights of many Te Tau Ihu Maori or left them with little meaningful choice over the alienation of their lands.

As a result, by as early as 1860 Te Tau Ihu Maori had lost most of their original estate. Thereafter, the Crown failed to actively protect their interests in those lands which remained to them. It also failed to protect their just rights and interests in valued natural resources. Despite petitions from Maori and repeated reports from its own officials, the Crown failed to protect or provide for Maori interests and rights in their customary fisheries and other resources. The result of these failures was grinding poverty, social dislocation, and loss of culture.

The Tribunal found that the totality of Treaty breaches were serious and caused significant social, economic, cultural, and spiritual prejudice to all iwi of Te Tau Ihu. These breaches, the Tribunal considered, required large and culturally appropriate redress.

In an attempt to assist Te Tau Ihu Treaty settlements, the Tribunal made several recommendations for remedies. Having regard in particular to the relatively even spread in terms of social and economic prejudice across all eight Te Tau Ihu iwi, the Tribunal recommended that the total quantum of financial and commercial redress be divided equally between them.

The Tribunal also recommended that site-specific cultural redress should be discussed collectively with all groups involved in Te Tau Ihu Treaty negotiations and that the unique claim of Ngati Apa, whose customary interests within Te Tau Ihu were never extinguished by any kind of deed of cession, needed special recognition. The Tribunal found the Crown’s repeated failure to properly recognise and deal with the Kurahaupo iwi as the legitimate tangata whenua (alongside the northern tribes) of Te Tau Ihu to be a serious breach. It recommended that the Crown take steps to fully recognise and restore the mana of the Kurahaupo iwi.

The Tribunal recommended that the settlement of historical grievances relating to Wakatu Incorporation was most appropriately a matter to be concluded between the Crown and Te Tau Ihu iwi and that matters affecting the shareholders of Wakatu Incorporation since its establishment in 1977 should be resolved between the incorporation and the Crown. It recommended that the Crown enter into parallel negotiations with the Ngati Rarua Atiawa Iwi Trust, with a view to bringing the Whakarewa (Motueka) leases into line with the 1997 Maori reserved lands settlement.

The Tribunal’s report highlighted a number of shortcomings with respect to the current ‘offer-back’ regime under the Public Works Act 1981. It recommended amendments to the Te Ture Whenua Maori Act 1993 and the Public Works Act to address these issues.

The Tribunal also highlighted problems with resource and fishery management regimes and recommended changes and improvements to ensure that these regimes were more consistent with the Treaty. The Crown admitted that the Resource Management Act 1991 was not being implemented in a manner that provided fairly for Maori interests.

Finally, the Tribunal made recommendations with respect to the customary interests of Te Tau Ihu iwi within the statutorily defined Ngai Tahu takiwa. Te Tau Ihu iwi lost the ability to recover their interests in lands within the takiwa, which have been vested in Ngai Tahu as a result of earlier Crown settlement. The Tribunal strongly recommended that the Crown take urgent action to ensure that these breaches did not continue. It also recommended that the Crown negotiate with those Te Tau Ihu iwi identified in the report as having customary interests within the statutorily defined Ngai Tahu takiwa to agree on equitable compensation.

This preliminary report concerns claims about the northern South Island.