Rapua ngā tuhinga ruku tātari

In 1987, a claim was received from the Oamaru Maori Committee and the Ngai Tahu Maori Trust Board in respect of the granting of a water right to the Waitaki County Council for the disposal of effluent from a proposed sewage scheme at Kakanui. The claimants alleged that the granting of the water right was contrary to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi.

The Waitaki County Council made it clear that they respected the claimants’ views and did not want to proceed with a scheme offensive to Maori in the district. The claimants for their part realised the acute need for a modern sewage treatment plant in the area, so the council and Maori set out to devise a modified scheme together.

The claimants sought leave to withdraw the claim, and, in its report of 20 February 1990, signed by Deputy Chief Judge Ashley McHugh, the Tribunal noted that it would not be inquiring further into the matter, although the claimants would be able to file a fresh claim if the need arose. The Tribunal noted with approval the constructive and cooperative approach adopted by all the parties which made it possible to advance the proposals without the expense and effort of public hearings.

The circumstances of this case … cry aloud for redress for the Natives. The … reserves are theirs and should be returned to them, no matter what cost to the Crown this may involve.

Judge Acheson, 1942

In November 1996, a claim concerning the Maunganui block, the Waipoua Forest, Lake Taharoa and surroundings, and the Waimamaku Valley was filed with the Waitangi Tribunal by various members of Te Roroa. This claim was registered as Wai 38.

The Tribunal constituted to hear the claim comprised Judge Andrew Spencer (presiding), Mary Boyd, Ngapere Hopa, John Kneebone, and Turirangi Te Kani. Sadly, Mr Te Kani died before the completion of the proceedings, and Sir Monita Delamere was subsequently appointed to the Tribunal. Nine hearings were held between June 1989 and May 1991, and the report was presented to the Minister of Māori Affairs and the claimants on 3 April 1992 at Te Waikaraka Marae in Kaihu.

The Tribunal found that the Crown had acted unfairly when it purchased land from Te Roroa and that it had failed to make proper provision for reserves for local Māori. The Tribunal also found that the Crown had allowed Te Roroa’s taonga to be violated and that it had denied Te Roroa the benefits of development enjoyed by other New Zealanders. The Tribunal recommended that all the land that should have been set aside from the Crown purchases of the Maunganui, Waipoua, Waimamaku, and Wairau lands be returned to Te Roroa.

The Ngāti Kahu Remedies Report, released in March 2013, is the outcome of an application for remedies by Ngāti Kahu, a claimant iwi in the Muriwhenua land inquiry (Wai 45). The application, filed in October 2007, asked the Tribunal to use its potentially binding powers requiring the Crown to return a series of properties to them, including former Crown properties now in private ownership. The application was adjourned until March 2010 to enable ongoing settlement negotiations with the Crown but was revived by Ngāti Kahu on 15 July 2011.

The Muriwhenua land inquiry was held between 1990 and 1994. In 1997, the Tribunal released its Muriwhenua Land Report. The Tribunal found the claims of Muriwhenua iwi, including Ngāti Kahu, to be well-founded in relation to acts and omissions of the Crown up to 1865, by which time a significant proportion of land in the region had been alienated. Consequently, the Tribunal’s hearing on the Ngāti Kahu remedies application was restricted to their well-founded claims.

The panel members for the Ngāti Kahu remedies hearing were Judge Stephen Clark (presiding officer), Joanne Morris, Dr Robyn Anderson, and Professor Pou Temara. Hearings were held at Kareponia Marae, Awanui, just north of Kaitaia from 3 to 7 September 2012. Closing submissions of the parties were heard on 18 and 19 September 2012 in Auckland.

The Tribunal found that redress for the wrongful dispossession of 70 per cent of Ngāti Kahu lands by 1865 was long overdue. However, owing to the circumstances of wider Treaty settlement negotiations in the region, the Tribunal concluded that the use of its binding powers was not warranted. A central consideration in arriving at this conclusion was the relationship of the five main iwi of the Muriwhenua region: Ngāti Kahu, Te Rarawa, Te Aupōuri, Ngāi Takoto, and Ngāti Kuri. These iwi, though autonomous in their own right, have common ancestral origins and shared whakapapa, which had been reflected in their approach to the Muriwhenua land inquiry, when the five iwi brought their claims to the Tribunal jointly and prosecuted their claims collectively. The iwi subsequently pursued separate settlements of their claims with the Crown. However, the iwi returned to a more collective approach from 2008 to resolve issues of intertwined and competing claims to Crown-owned land and assets which had prevented any settlement from being reached. Ultimately dissatisfied with what they could achieve through settlement negotiations with the Crown, Ngāti Kahu withdrew from those negotiations and applied to the Tribunal for remedies. In doing so, they risked the settlements that Te Aupōuri, Te Rarawa, and Ngāi Takoto had agreed with the Crown as Ngāti Kahu sought the return of land earmarked for return to these iwi.

‘A well-established Treaty principle has it that the Crown should not, in remedying the grievance of one group, create a fresh grievance for another group’, presiding officer Judge Stephen Clark said in his accompanying letter to the Minister of Māori Affairs.

The Tribunal, instead, made a series of non-binding recommendations to the Crown. If agreed to by the parties, these recommendations would provide for the restoration of the economic and cultural well-being of Ngāti Kahu. These included the return of a number of sites of ancestral importance, including wāhi tapu, and a series of governance arrangements to allow Ngāti Kahu to have a significant say in the administration of other sites, as well as establishing relationships with local bodies and other institutions. Further recommendations included cash payments designed to revitalise the iwi, both culturally and socially, and an opportunity to assume ownership of a range of commercial properties, to assist in re-establishing the commercial base of the iwi.

Claim Wai 45 was lodged with the Waitangi Tribunal in December 1987 by the Honourable Matiu Rata and concerned the acquisition of land in the Far North.

The Tribunal constituted to hear the claim comprised Chief Judge Eddie Durie (presiding), Bishop Manuhuia Bennett, Sir Monita Delamere, Joanne Morris, and Professor Evelyn Stokes. Following the death of Sir Monita in April 1993, the Tribunal continued with a quorum of four.

Fifteen hearings were held between August 1990 and June 1994, and in March 1997 the Tribunal released the Muriwhenua Land Report, which covered pre-1865 land transactions. The Tribunal was satisfied that the claims to 1865 were well founded and that the consequences had been such that recommendations for the transfer of substantial assets, to be effected as soon as practicable, would be appropriate. However, it held off making recommendations until the parties had been heard on the issue of remedies.

In all, the Muriwhenua claims are about the acquisition of land under a show of judicial and administrative process. They concern Government programmes instituted to relieve Maori of virtually the whole of their land, with little thought being given to their future wellbeing or to their economic development in a new economy. There is little difference between that and land confiscation in terms of outcome, for in each case the long-term economic results, the disintegration of communities, the loss of status and political autonomy, and despair over the fact of dispossession are much the same.

The Waitangi Tribunal

In 1990, while the inquiry was proceeding, the claimants asked the Tribunal to intervene in the sale of 1183 hectares of Kaimaumau land adjoining Rangaunu Harbour. In a short report, the Report on Kaimaumau Lands, the Tribunal recommended that the Crown take all steps that it reasonably could to retain or recover the land at Kaimaumau about to be sold by the State-owned enterprise Landcorp, and that like measures be taken to prevent the sale of other State enterprise or Crown surplus land in Muriwhenua during the currency of the Muriwhenua inquiry.

Claim Wai 45 was lodged with the Waitangi Tribunal in December 1987 by the Honourable Matiu Rata and concerned the acquisition of land in the Far North.

The Tribunal constituted to hear the claim comprised Chief Judge Eddie Durie (presiding), Bishop Manuhuia Bennett, Sir Monita Delamere, Joanne Morris, and Professor Evelyn Stokes. Following the death of Sir Monita in April 1993, the Tribunal continued with a quorum of four.

Fifteen hearings were held between August 1990 and June 1994, and in March 1997 the Tribunal released the Muriwhenua Land Report, which covered pre-1865 land transactions. The Tribunal was satisfied that the claims to 1865 were well founded and that the consequences had been such that recommendations for the transfer of substantial assets, to be effected as soon as practicable, would be appropriate. However, it held off making recommendations until the parties had been heard on the issue of remedies.

In all, the Muriwhenua claims are about the acquisition of land under a show of judicial and administrative process. They concern Government programmes instituted to relieve Maori of virtually the whole of their land, with little thought being given to their future wellbeing or to their economic development in a new economy. There is little difference between that and land confiscation in terms of outcome, for in each case the long-term economic results, the disintegration of communities, the loss of status and political autonomy, and despair over the fact of dispossession are much the same.

The Waitangi Tribunal

In 1990, while the inquiry was proceeding, the claimants asked the Tribunal to intervene in the sale of 1183 hectares of Kaimaumau land adjoining Rangaunu Harbour. In a short report, the Report on Kaimaumau Lands, the Tribunal recommended that the Crown take all steps that it reasonably could to retain or recover the land at Kaimaumau about to be sold by the State-owned enterprise Landcorp, and that like measures be taken to prevent the sale of other State enterprise or Crown surplus land in Muriwhenua during the currency of the Muriwhenua inquiry.

the Governor will seize a part of the lands of the Tribes who conceal these murderers, and will use them for the purpose of maintaining peace in that part of the country and of providing for the widows and relatives of the murdered people.

New Zealand Gazette

The Ngati Awa Raupatu Report is an abbreviated report, containing no formal recommendations, that was written to support a settlement of claims arising from the Ngati Awa raupatu in the Bay of Plenty, when some 245,000 acres of land were confiscated. The report urges that all historical matters between the Crown and the Ngati Awa runanga and the runanga for Tuwharetoa ki Kawerau be settled.

The Tribunal that heard the claims comprised Chief Judge Eddie T Durie (presiding), Brian Corban, Professor Gordon Orr, Professor Keith Sorrenson, and Keita Walker. There were 12 separate hearings, which spanned almost a year and a half during the course of 1994 and 1995.

The Tribunal found that the confiscation of the Ngati Awa land was contrary to the principles of the Treaty, in that the Treaty did not allow of it and the circumstances did not justify the suspension of the Treaty rights amongst the Ngati Awa people. It emphasised that the land was confiscated not for the murder of a Crown official, as is popularly thought, but for the rebellion arising from alleged resistance when an armed force attempted to effect arrests. However, the Tribunal considered that the resistance was intended not as rebellion, or as opposition to the Government, but to defend against that which appeared to be an invading force, bent on revenge.

In addition, the Tribunal found that far more land was taken than the legislation allowed for, that it was taken from 'innocent' hapu with no involvement in the matters complained of, that a major relocation was involved to place all hapu within ready reach of a military establishment, that the hapu were left with insufficient for their needs, and that social structures were destabilised when all hapu land was locked into a fragmented, personal tenure.

I have seen many of our people today fail to observe even the most simple protocols and customs. I have seen some of our people [trample] over the tikanga that is special to us and has been laid down by our ancestors before us. I have seen our people on some occasions deny that they are Ngati Awa.

Kairau Ngahau

I vividly recall how my mother was always telling me how my grandfather, Merito Hetaraka, felt the shame and worthlessness, as he could not fulfil his duties as a Ngati Hokopu leader to ensure the future well-being of his hapu and iwi, as a result of the loss of the 'control' of our confiscated lands.

Patrick Hudson

The report ends with the Tribunal outlining its views on the issues involved in negotiating a settlement and wishing the Crown and claimants a successful resolution to 'this long outstanding problem'.

In settling the claims, regard should be had to the immediate and long-term social impacts on the Ngati Awa people in taking away their proven developmental capacity. It is also pertinent to compare their lot with that of other major descent groups or iwi. In the twentieth century, tribes that retained land would have the benefit of concessionary land development funding. Many that lost large areas of land would have the benefit of preliminary compensation administered through tribal trust boards. Comparatively, assistance for Ngati Awa has been minimal. They had little land to develop and are amongst the few that received no prior compensation.

The Waitangi Tribunal

Claim Wai 55, dealing with Te Whanganui-a-Orotu, or the Napier inner harbour, was lodged with the Tribunal in March 1988 by seven local hapu. It was granted urgency because leasehold sections in the claim area were about to be sold.

The claimants sought a finding that Te Whanganui-a-Orotu was their taonga and that they had never knowingly or willingly relinquished their tino rangatiratanga over it. They wanted the Tribunal to recommend that legislation vesting the title to Te Whanganui-a-Orotu in others be repealed or amended, that all Crown and other public lands in Te Whanganui-a-Orotu be returned, and that compensation be paid for those parts of Te Whanganui-a-Orotu that had passed from the Crown into private ownership.

The Tribunal that heard the claim comprised Bill Wilson (presiding), Bishop Manuhuia Bennett, Sir John Ingram, Mary Boyd, and Georgina Te Heuheu. Six hearings were held between July 1993 and July 1994, and the report was released in July 1995.

The Tribunal found that a number of clear breaches of Treaty principles had occurred, beginning with the Crown's inclusion of Te Whanganui-a-Orotu in the Ahuriri purchase in 1851, and it recommended that there be no further alienations of any Crown or State-owned enterprise land within the pre-1851 boundaries of Te Whanganui-a-Orotu. It also suggested that a substantial fund be set up to compensate for what the Tribunal concluded were irretrievable losses caused to the claimants.

At that stage, however, the Tribunal considered that it was inappropriate for it to make final recommendations on the issue of remedies, and it set aside a week in early November 1995 to hear submissions on that issue. In June 1998, the Tribunal released its report on remedies, which recommended that various lands in the claim area be returned to the claimants and that monetary compensation be paid.

This short report sets out the Tribunal’s proposed remedies in regard to the Wai 55 claim about Te Whanganui-a-Orotu, or the Napier inner harbour.