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In 1987, the Waitangi Tribunal received an application from a Mr P H E Bloomer, acting as agent for Matiu Love and James Mark, asking for an inquiry into ‘whether or not the Waikawa block would be returned to Maori descendants of original owners’. The claim was brought because the claimants feared that the land was about to be transferred to the new Land Corporation, a State-owned enterprise established under the State-owned Enterprises Act 1986.

In July 1987, Mr Bloomer wrote to the Tribunal indicating that he had received a letter from the Prime Minister stating that the Waikawa block would be retained by the Crown and that normal procedures as to lands no longer required by the Crown would be instituted.

Subsequently, Mr Bloomer formally withdrew the claim in June 1988 after the Honourable Peter Tapsell agreed in principle to arrange for the return of the land to Matiu Love and his associated relatives. The Tribunal’s report on the matter, signed by Deputy Chief Judge Ashley McHugh, was issued on 27 June 1989.

The owners of Oriwa 1B3 - a block of Maori freehold land - lodged a claim with the Tribunal objecting to a district scheme designation which proposed that the land be a public reserve. Following inquiries by Tribunal research staff and the commissioning and release of an exploratory research report on the matter, the Tribunal was formally advised that the Department of Conservation wanted the public reserve designation to be lifted. as a result, no recommendations needed to be made.

   ‘With hindsight, the Moriori claim deserved an early hearing in the Tribunal’s process, for it raised issues at the frontier of our modern government. A just conclusion to recent warfare was an issue squarely before Maori and the Governor when the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, and the issue shed light on a major purpose of the Treaty: to ensure justice for all people.’

    Justice Durie

The raft of issues considered in the Rekohu Report are unique and complex, and a thorough reading of the entire report is necessary to gain a full understanding of the context of the claims and the ensuing recommendations of the Tribunal.

The report looks closely at the period soon after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 and the annexation of Rekohu in 1842. Some of the main findings of the Tribunal’s report are that:

The Native Land Court adopted criteria set by the Crown that were inadequate in Treaty terms when it excluded Moriori from ownership of any but the main island, and in that case awarding 97 per cent of the land to Ngati Mutunga and only 3 per cent to Moriori. The Tribunal considered the awards were patently wrong and that Moriori were entitled to at least 50 per cent.

The ancestral right to land was with Moriori. Maori were recent invaders.

The Tribunal did not accept the Crown’s argument that Maori agreed to land tenure reform proposing individual ownership, individual share trading, or Native Land Court control of title devolution and succession.

The Tribunal recommended that compensation is due to Ngati Mutunga for the lasting impact of the Crown’s policy on tenure reform.

The Tribunal has proposed a new indigenous land law for Rekohu which would be the modern equivalent for the customary ethic with land titles held in trust by a runanga (formed along traditional lines) which allocated long-term occupation rights. The Runanga would provide facilities for visiting relatives out of the rents among other things. The Tribunal recommends that the Crown fund a body to promote the development of a new Maori land law specific to the Chathams.

The issue of slavery as a result of the invasion of Rekohu by Ngati Tama and Ngati Mutunga in 1835 was an issue ended in the mainland of New Zealand by 1839. This was not so in Rekohu where it continued for 20 years after annexation without Crown intervention. The Tribunal found that the failure of the Crown to intervene cost Moriori many lives, and prejudiced later land claims

The Tribunal in the Chatham Islands inquiry was also asked to look at a number of contemporary issues including the Tribunal's jurisdiction, the status of Moriori and their right to make claims under the Treaty of Waitangi, health and education, conservation management, fishing, and the ownership of Te Whaanga lagoon.

    ‘The scientific evidence is compelling: Moriori are the same people as Maori but, through isolation, they are unique as a Maori tribe.’

    Waitangi Tribunal