First Crown purchase of Manawatū Māori land violated Treaty of Waitangi, hapū says
Tuesday, 10 November 2020
The Crown disregarded the Treaty of Waitangi, took advantage of internal iwi politics and brought in ringers to overcome opposition to the sale of an important block of Manawatū land, an iwi says.
The Ngāti Raukawa Iwi Confederation is presenting submissions to the Waitangi Tribunal at the Parewahawaha Marae in Bulls at a hearing examining the sale of more than 12 hectares of land.
The second day of the week-long hearing on Tuesday focused on the 1859 sale of the Te Awahou block, a 12,141 hectare section of land north of Foxton.
Ngāti Raukawa hapū Ngāti Parewahawaha’s statement to the tribunal detailed the lengths Crown representatives went to in acquiring that land. It was the first land in Manawatū sold ot the Crown, despite the majority of Ngāti Raukawa wanting to hold on to its rohe.
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Clifford Brown, Robyn Richardson, Kim Savage, Jessica Kereama and former tribunal chairman Sir Eddie Durie presented Ngāti Parewahawaha's statement on the Te Awahou sale.
Clifford Brown said the Crown circumvented the chosen representative of Ngāti Raukawa to make a deal counter to the principals of the Treaty of Waitangi.
According to the treaty, the Crown had agreed to deal with representatives chosen by iwi, not by the Government.
Ngāti Raukawa had watched the Government’s massive land purchase programme, stretching from New Plymouth to Nelson, in the 1840s and iwi leaders worried their lands would be swallowed up next unless a stand was taken.
It declared none of its land south of the Rangitīkei River would be sold to the Crown and gave Nepia Taratoa, a Ngāti Raukawa chief, the power and responsibility to enforce that decision and veto any hapū-level decisions to sell in 1849.
The iwi immediately notified the Crown in writing that all land negotiations had to go through him.
Anglican Reverend Rangi Nicholson, on behalf of Taratoa’s descendants, detailed the last 10 years of Taratoa’s life.
When the Crown, represented by Governor Sir George Grey, set its sights on Te Awahou it did everything it could to circumvent Taratoa.
The Crown capitalised on internal iwi politics and fatigue to weaken opposition to the sale, including holding a series of meetings.
Attendance peaked at the second meeting, with 700 Māori present, and fell drastically until the final meeting involved only 150 Māori.
Ngāti Parewahawaha’s statement said some votes to sell could have been protest votes form hapū asserting independence from the main iwi.
The statement also detailed how Grey brought in young chiefs he’d worked with on previous sales, mainly from Ōtaki and Whanganui, to bolster support at the meetings.
Those chiefs did not live in Te Awahou and had tenuous claims to the right to sell it.
Hapū with stronger claims that didn’t want to sell were largely sidelined.
The hearing continues.