Maori and the Forestry, Mining, Fishing, and Tourism Industries of the Rohe Potae Inquiry District, 1880-2000
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Wai 898, # A25 MAORI AND THE FORESTRY, MINING, FISHING, AND TOURISM INDUSTRIES OF THE ROHE POTAE INQUIRY DISTRICT, 1880-2000 A report commissioned by the Waitangi Tribunal for the Te Rohe Potae district inquiry (\Vai 898) Philip Cleaver February 2011 Author Philip Cleaver holds a Master of Arts in history from Victoria University of Wellington (1996). Since 1999 he has mostly worked as a commissioned researcher for the Waitangi Tribunal. He has prepared research reports for the Hauraki, Gisborne, Urewera, Wairarapa ki Tararua, and Whanganui inquiries and has presented evidence to the Tribunal on several occasions. As well as this report concerning the forestry, mining, fishing, and tourism industries of the Rohe Potae inquiry district, he has also written, with Jonathan Sarich, a report on the North Island Main Trunk railway for the Rohe Potae inquiry. Potential conflict of interest: Mr Cleaver is the part owner of one of 26 leasehold baches sited on the Tongaporutu Recreation Reserve, which lies within the Rohe Potae inquiry district. He has helped to prepare an application to the Historic Places Trust, seeking to have the baches registered as a Historic Area. Cover: The photograph shows a massive rimu log outside Ellis and Burnand’s Mangapehi sawmill. The log was cut from the Maori-owned Maraeroa C block, which Ellis and Burnand held cutting rights over from about 1913 until at least the mid-1960s. Many such logs were cut from the block. The date of the photograph is unknown. (Source: Ken Anderson, Maoriland sawmillers: Ellis and Burnand Ltd: sawmillers and timber merchants: Mangapehi, Family of Ken Anderson, Manurewa, 2008, p 66.) 2 Table of Contents Author ....................................................................................................................................................................... 2 List of Figures .......................................................................................................................................................... 5 List of Tables ........................................................................................................................................................... 6 Abbreviations ........................................................................................................................................................... 7 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 8 Chapter One: Forestry ................................................................................................................... 14 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................... 14 Notes on timber measurement ............................................................................................................................ 15 Forestry issues examined in other Waitangi Tribunal inquiries ..................................................................... 15 Overview of forestry industry ............................................................................................................................. 18 Indigenous forestry ............................................................................................................................................... 28 Indigenous forest resources in the Rohe Potae inquiry district ................................................................................... 28 Government forest policy and initiatives, 1840-1910 ............................................................................................. 29 Early sawmilling, 1840-1885 ............................................................................................................................... 31 Sawmilling and the North Island Main Trunk railway ......................................................................................... 35 Expansion of sawmilling along the North Island Main Trunk railway, 1890- 1909 ............................................ 38 Maori Land Laws Amendment Bill 1903 ............................................................................................................ 48 Leasing and timber, 1900-1909 ........................................................................................................................... 56 Maori Land Claims Adjustment and Laws Amendment Act 1907 ..................................................................... 59 Native Land Act 1909 ........................................................................................................................................ 66 Purchase of forest lands, 1889-1919 ..................................................................................................................... 67 Vesting of forest lands, 1909-1910 ....................................................................................................................... 71 Alienation of timber cutting rights, 1910-1921 ..................................................................................................... 91 Establishment of the State Forest Service, 1919, and the Forests Act 1921-22 ..................................................... 94 Increased indigenous timber cutting controls, 1922-1938 ........................................................................................ 98 Alienation of timber cutting rights, 1922-1938 ................................................................................................... 106 Purchase of forest lands, 1920-1938 ................................................................................................................... 114 Cutting on Rangitoto Tuhua 36 and Maraeroa C, 1920-1960 ........................................................................... 121 Wartime regulation and State Forest Service powers, 1939-1963 ........................................................................ 137 Cutting in the Rohe Potae inquiry district, 1939-1980 ........................................................................................ 151 Purchase of forest lands, 1939-1980 ................................................................................................................... 163 Maori participation in the sawmilling industry ..................................................................................................... 165 Employment ........................................................................................................................................................ 174 Exotic forestry ..................................................................................................................................................... 176 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................................ 187 Chapter Two: Mining and Quarrying – Coal, Limestone, and Ironsands .................................. 193 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................................... 193 Mining and quarrying issues examined in other Waitangi Tribunal inquiries ............................................ 194 Coal mining .......................................................................................................................................................... 195 Ownership of coal and statutory provisions relating to coal mining ......................................................................... 195 Overview of coal industry in New Zealand ........................................................................................................... 196 Government assistance for coal mining .................................................................................................................. 198 Coal resources in the Rohe Potae inquiry district .................................................................................................. 199 Overview of coal mining in the Rohe Potae inquiry district .................................................................................... 201 Mokau district .................................................................................................................................................... 205 Kawhia district .................................................................................................................................................... 214 Tahaia and Rangitoto ......................................................................................................................................... 216 Purchase of coal lands .......................................................................................................................................... 221 Employment ........................................................................................................................................................ 222 Limestone quarrying ........................................................................................................................................... 224 Ownership of limestone and statutory provisions relating to quarrying ................................................................... 224 Overview of limestone industry in New Zealand ..................................................................................................