Environment destroyed in favour of European economy, says iwi

Tuesday, 13 July 2021

Ngāti Parewahawaha marae near Bulls, which used to be surrounded by forest and wetlands, is now surrounded by farmland.

Iwi lost the use of land that could provide food, firewood and medicine after wetlands and forests were destroyed in the name of a growing European economy, a Waitangi Tribunal has heard.

“They were central to our way of life… to the crown, however, wetlands were of no value,” said Dennis Emery, chairperson of Ngā Kaitiaki o Ngāti Kauwhata.

He made the claims as the Manawatū ki Porirua Waitangi Tribunal inquiry continued at the Feilding Civic Centre print:yesterdayon Tuesday, the seventh week of 12 scheduled hearings.

The inquiry is part of the Ngāti Raukawa confederations claim, which states the historical sale of thousands of hectares of land between Manawatū and Kāpiti was not done legitimately.

Emery argued not only was native land destroyed for the profit of farmers, but that same destruction of food, medical and construction resources forced Māori to be reliant on the European economy.

* Manawatū iwi dispossessed after land confiscation

* Traditional Māori way of life still recovering from actions of the Crown

“The well-being of us and the well-being of the environment was ignored,” he said.

He said a third of the Manawatū district had been wetlands until policies in the mid 1800s that allowed, or encouraged as he argued, those wetlands to be drained to make way for farming pastures.

The confederation of Ngāti Raukawa iwi, which included Ngāti Kauwhata, Ngāti Parewahawaha and Nga Iwi o Te Reureu, said this meant for decades, mana whenua’s needs had not been met.

Robyn Richardson, of Ngāti Parewahawaha, said changes to the landscape meant multiple marae along the Rangitīkei River had been wiped out, displacing many Māori.

In 1897, a flood took out an urupā, or burial ground. Richardson said they still didn’t know if their tīpuna, or ancestors, were still there.

Richardson and tribunal observers held back tears explaining how treasured their land was. They said they had utilised a space that had been passed down from their ancestors, only to have it transformed for industry rather than wellness.

“We therefore don’t have a space to go and heal ourselves.”

Richardson said Māori used to be able to hunt and gather right at their doorstep, but “now when we look towards our whenua in the north, we see industry”.

Miriama Kerema, co-chair of the Ngāti Parewahawaha trust, said it felt like every day the Government was asking to take something from their land.

“It’s really hard… the work we do as kaitiaki, or guardians… we're not available to go to meetings. [Politicians] are paid to do that and we’re not.”

Bruce Smith, of Ngā Iwi o Te Reureu, spoke about observations made by his elders. He said Feilding was once swampland, and settlers cut down native trees to provide a more solid base to build on.

“My mum talked about… the early 1900s deforestation started with burn offs of native forest. At one stage, the fires there were so intense that the sun was blocked out for two weeks.

“Roots of the trees burnt off would smoulder for months. My mum said that caused a lot of respiratory problems.”

He said deforestation had contributed to so much erosion, that the hill Aorangi, the namesake of the marae, had slipped into the Rangitīkei River in the 1880s.