WOi h~b, 11= G( THE AUTHOR My name is Dion Tuuta. I am ofNgati Mutunga and Ngati Tama ki Taranaki descent. I completed a B.A. in Social Sciences at Massey University in 1992. In 1995 I completed a Post­ Graduate Diploma in Humanities, and in 1996 completed an M.A. in History at Massey University. As part of my Masters degree I wrote a thesis which examined the impact of the Commission on Native Land and Native Land Tenure, 1907-1909, on subsequent Maori land legislation. In 1994 and 1996 I worked as a research assistant for the Crown Forestry Rental Trust, and I became a member of the Waitangi Tribunal research staff in April 1997. CONTENTS Introduction 1 Chapter One: Determination of Title 6 Chapter Two: The Alienation of Section 15, Block IX, Morgantown 22 Chapter Three: The Alienation of Section 17, Block IX, Lipseytown 36 Chapter Four: Ema Lipsey's Will 65 Chapter Five: Te Aroha Railway Station 85 Chapter Six: Te Aroha Bridge Domain and Herries Memorial Park 100 Chapter Seven: The Freehold of Te Aroha 106 Conclusion 116 Bibliography 122 Appendix One 128 Maps and Tables Figure 1: Map Showing Location ofTe Aroha 3 Figure 2: Map Showing Te Aroha Gold Field 17 Figure 3: Map Showing Hot Spring and Later Extension 25 Figure 4: Map Showing Section 17 Block IX. 37 Figure 5: Map Showing Te Aroha School and Church Sites 40 Figure 6: Map Showing Plan of Church Street Site 42 Figure 6: Table Showing Land Alienation by 1905 72 Figure 7: Map of Land Sold to Straighten Boundary Lines 73 Figure 8: Map Showing Partition of Section 17 Over Time 83 Figure 9: Map Showing Location of Te Aroha Railway Station 87 Figure 10: Map Showing Area Taken for Railway Station 88 Figure 11: Map Showing Waikato-Thames Railway 90 Figure 12: Map Showing Herries Memorial Park 104 List of Abbreviations AJHR Appendices to the Journals ofthe House ofRepresentatives AJLC Appendices to the Journals ofthe Legislative Council ATL Alexander Turnbull Library LINZ Land Information New Zealand MA-MLP Maori Affairs-Maori Land Purchase Department NA National Archives NZPD New Zealand Parliamentary Debates Note on Commission The direction commissioning research stipulated that this report was to cover the alienation or gifting ofTe Aroha cemetery. After meeting with the claimant, Mr Tane Mokena, he expressed the opinion that the report should not examine this issue as the Te Aroha cemetery is not located on land originally owned by his tupuna. Also, the commission directed the report to examine the alienation of land at Grattan Road, described as Lot 4, DP 34911 (Town of Te Aroha Extension No. 14) being Part Section 10, Block IX, Aroha Survey District. However, this piece ofland was already owned by the Crown when the new appellation was created in 1947, and was also out of the specified emphasis of 1878-1925. Because of this the issue of Lot 4, DP 34911, has not been examined in this report. 1 INTRODUCTION The township ofTe Aroha is located within the Thames Valley. Te Aroha township came to be situated on land that had been awarded to members of Ngati Rahiri in 1878. 1 This land was originally part of the Omahu reserve, which had been reserved by the Native Land Court for NgatiRahiri in 1878, following the sale of the Te Aroha block to the Crown in 1871. The survey of the various awards within the Omahu reserve did not begin until 1881, when Crown Grants were finally issued for the land where a bustling township had sprung up due to the discovery of gold in the area. In September 1881, an area of334 acres was Crown Granted to Rina Mokena, Mokena Hou, Akuhata Mokena, Ranapia Mokena, Eta Mokena, Hare Renata, Raima te Hemoata and Te Heinga Tawaha. This area eventually became section 15 block IX, or Morgantown. Another area of 400 acres was Crown Granted to Ema Mokena Ripihia (alias Ema Lipsey) and her two children, Ani Ripihia and Akuhata Ripihia. 2 This area was given the legal appellation of section 17 block IX, Te Aroha block, and it eventually became known as Lip s eytown. When gold was discovered in Te Aroha, the Morgans and the Lipseys voluntarily ceded these sections to the Governor under The Gold Fields Act 1873, and leases under that cession for sites in both sections 15 and 17 were issued by the Gold Fields Warden, Harry Kenrick, to European residents. Under the terms of the cession, the revenues, or the bulk of them, were handed over by the Warden to the Maori owners of the freehold (i.e. to the Morgans and the Lipseys). Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the bulk of section 15 block IX was converted into Crown lands as the Government gradually bought out the Maori owners' interests. The revenues generated by the land, which were theretofore paid to the original owners, were then handed over to the relevant local body in accordance with the provisions of the Financial Arrangements Act 1876 and 1878. 1Ngati Rahiri are also known as Ngati Tumutumu. Personal communication of Tane Mokena dated 20 November 1998. 2Schedule of Lands Granted to Ngati Rahiri dated 24 August 1878, MA 13/86, Te Aroha Block, NA. 2 By the beginning ofthe twentieth century, the owners of section 17 block IX, began to enter into financial arrangements on the security of their land. These arrangements, in conjunction with settler agitation for the freehold of their leased sites, as well as other factors, eventually led to the bulk of the lands being alienated to the Crown. On 15 January 1997, the Waitangi Tribunal received a claim by Tanengapuia Te Rangiawhina Mokena, alias Bryan Malcolm, on behalf ofNga Uri 0 Mokena Hou and Ngati Tumutumu iwi, concerning the gifting and alienation of certain lands at Te Aroha. Mr Mokena asserted that the "methods followed and acts committed or omitted by the Crown or its agents and authorities set up by the Crown or Parliament, in dealing with land at Te Aroha" had "detrimentally and adversely affected Nga Uri a Te Mokena Hou and Ngati Tumutumu.,,3 Tane Mokena is a descendant ofTe Mokena Hou and Ema Mokena Lipsey, two of the original owners granted title to sections 15 and 17, block IX, Te Aroha, by the Native Land Court in 1878. Te Mokena Hou was a chief of Ngati Rahiri and a prominent figure in the early days of Te Aroha township. Ema Mokena Lipsey, his daughter, was also a well-known identity in early Te Aroha. Ema Mokena married one of the first Pakeha settlers in the area, an Irishman by the name of George Lipsey. Indeed, the two sections that Te Aroha township came to be built on were named after these families as Morgantown and Lipseytown. It may be said that the very existence ofTe Aroha township is due in no small part to the generosity, goodwill, and industry of the Mokena and Lipsey families. According to Mr Tane Mokena, Ema Mokena Lipsey's will revealed her determination that her land in Lipseytown would always provide for her descendants. Ema Mokena Lipsey died in 1906, followed 7 years later by her husband George Lipsey. Ema Lipsey's will was quite strict about what should happen to her land after her death, yet, according to Mr Mokena, after George Lipsey died in 1913, the land was alienated. One of the other issues highlighted in Mr Mokena's claim was the gifting of certain lands by the 3Letter from Tanengapuia Te Rangiawhina Mokena to Registrar, Waitangi Tribunal, Wellington dated 14 January 1997. Wai 663/0. 3 Map 1: Location of Te Aroha N.Harris - Mar 1999 Te Aroha 952m-3123ft .?~;!!f!!i)~!~';~3ft ................ ~.Q9m,2.6,?4ft l~_./ Te Aroha./ __________ . ____ . _____ !3_QQIJ!:t~!38ft ',""",' \\ \~ ~ LOCALITY MAP Coo"",",,",,,,,,,,, ) / Te Aroha township 500 metres 440 yards .. .r" ........... ... :- , .. ,.' ,'-',.' " ~~.Nf~ 9~2mi '. " 9DOm 800m ,, , . , '. '\ ~ 800m , so Om 300m 200m Location of Te Aroha township in relation to Mount Te Aroha 4 Mokena whanau. The gifted lands were to be used for such purposes as Te Aroha School, the Anglican Church, the Hot Springs Reserve, and the land now known as Herries Memorial Park. This report is designed to examine the events and circumstances leading up to, and including, the establishment ofTe Aroha township, as well as the fate of these gifted lands. This report will explore the circumstances leading up to the purchase of sections 15 and 17, more commonly known as Morgantown and Lipseytown. It will seek to unearth how two blocks of land, made inalienable by the Native Land Court, ended up becoming alienated from Maori ownership. It will also examine the events leading to the gifting of various areas ofland by Te Mokena Hou and Ema Mokena Lipsey, paying particular attention to the terms and conditions of the gifting, if any such terms and conditions were imposed. The report examines events which occurred between the years 1878 and 1925. The report cuts off in 1925 because the bulk of the Mokena and Lipsey estates had been alieanted to the Crown by this time. The report is divided into seven chapters, each examining certain events which took place in Te Aroha. Chapter one deals with the original awarding of title to the lands, which eventually came to form Te Aroha township, to the Mokena and Lipsey families in 1878, and introduces some of the main players in the events which were to unfold. Chapter one also examines the opening of the Te Aroha Gold Field and describes the birth ofTe Aroha as a township.