IOFFICIALI Wai 903, #A23 PIPIRIKI TOWNSHIP BRIAN HERLIHY & ASSOCIATES This report was commissioned by the Waitangi Tribunal following a claim by the Ranana Trust relating to land in the Pipiriki Township (Wai 428) September 1995 PROPRIETORS OF PIPIRIKI TOWNSHIP NO. 1 7 OTHER BLOCKS INC. (Maori Affairs Act 1953) Pipiriki Township No. 1 Whakaihuwaka C12 Waharangi 7A All correspondence to : Waharangi 7A3 The Secretary Waharangi No. 4 PO Box 282, WANGANUI Telephone/Fax 06 345 4172 20 January 1994 RECEIVED 26.1.94 The Chairman Waitangi Tribunal PO Box 5022, WELLINGTON Dear Sir The Incorporation hereby notifies a Statement of Claim in respect of two parcels of land in Pipiriki Township which it considers should be returned to Maori Ownership from The Crown. (a) Section 24 Block I - Pipiriki Township. This land was originally surveyed in the early 1990’s as a European Cemetery and at that time had three marked graves on it. Since then no further European burials have been made in Pipiriki and it is considered that the parcel of land set aside for a cemetery reserve is extremely excessive especially when compared with similar Maori burial sites in Pipiriki. (b) Sections 1, 2, 3 Block IX - Pipiriki Township. This land was designated a Crown Reserve in 1988 without reference to any persons or organisations as Owners of such land. In both cases the PROPRIETORS OF PIPIRIKI TOWNSHIP NO. 1 AND OTHER BLOCKS INC. is the correct claimant of such land being the body in whom freehold title of Pipiriki Township is vested. This claim is made under the auspices of the Whare Ranana Trust who are administering all such claims in the Pipiriki area presently with the Waitangi Tribunal. Yours faithfully, P.R. LENDRUM (Signed) Secretary. SUMMARY The claim is made under the auspices of the Whare Ranana Trust by the Proprietors of Pipiriki Township No. 1 and Other Blocks Incorporated. This Maori Incorporation administers most of the land in Pipiriki Township together with other adjoining blocks. The Incorporation seeks the return of two areas of land which were acquired by the Crown under the provisions of Section 12 of the Native Townships Act 1895, namely Section 24 Block IV and Sections 1, 2 and 3 Block IX. Section 24 Block IV and Section 1 Block IX are still governed by the legislation under which they were acquired and other than three burials on Section 24, do not appear to have been used for the purposes for which they were acquired. However, Sections 2 and 3 Block IX have been re-subdivided. The main part of what was originally Section 2 now appears to be used for road while most of what was originally Section 3 is now part of Wanganui National Park. If the Tribunal should see fit to recommend the return of any of these lands to Maori ownership it would appear, with one small exception, that the correct claimants would be the owners and descendants of owners in Pipiriki Township No. 1 at the time it was incorporated. INTRODUCTION My name is Brian Herlihy. The first twenty years of my working life were in the teaching profession, the initial period of which was in Maori schools, including one on the Wanganui River. After a period of overseas travel I spent nearly twenty years in the Maori Land Court in Wanganui with several years as Deputy Registrar. Since retiring from the Land Court in 1986, I have conducted my own Maori Land Consultancy covering inter alia, work for Maori owners, lessees of Maori Land, solicitors, local bodies, Government Departments, and have undertaken a number of commissions for the Waitangi Tribunal. THE REPORT Basically, the Commission was to investigate the background and current position of two areas within Pipiriki Township. Some of the background information was available in the Maori Land Court in Wanganui, but it was necessary to travel to Wellington to check old application files forwarded to National Archives, plus information held by the Department of Survey and Land Information. I was also asked to check on the extent to which Maori were consulted. The plan of the Township area was displayed for a period of 2 months in 1896 and would have been available at the Investigation of Title hearings in 1897-98. There is no record of any objections to the plan and a notation on the plan itself specifically states that no objections were received during the display period. Again, the files do not record any consultation in the period leading up to the gazetting of what was originally Section 3, Block IX as part of the Wanganui National Park in 1986. From my own experience I know there were many discussions on the part of interested parties including Maori. One wonders however, whether or not the Maori people were aware that a part (even though small) of Pipiriki Township was to be included in the Park - a Lot number on a Deposited Plan means little or nothing to most people. Page 1 PIPIRIKI NATIVE TOWNSHIP Chronologically the first evidence I have been able to locate relating to the Township is the Native Townships Act 1895 (Exhibit A). Section 12 of the Act is particularly relevant to this exercise. Subsection (1) states that all streets shown on the plan shall be deemed to be vested in the Crown and shall be roads within the meaning of the Public Works Act 1894 and, more importantly, Subsection (2) states : “All reserves other than Native allotments shown on the said plan shall be deemed to be similarly vested in Her Majesty for the purposes specified on the plan and shall be dealt with as reserves under the Public Reserves Act 1881”. The plan number is 793 or SO13990 (Exhibit B) and was deposited on 9 April 1897. There is an endorsement on the plan by the Deputy Registrar of the Native Land Court....”I certify that this plan was exhibited from 28 October 1896 to 28 December 1896 under Section 8 of the Native Township Act 1895, at the Native Land Courthouse, Wanganui, and no objections were received in respect of the same”. The Crown reserves referred to above are more particularly specified in the New Zealand Gazette dated 30 September 1897 page 1723 (Exhibit C), and again I refer more particularly to : Section 24 Block IV 5 acres 1 rood 30 perches Public Cemetery Reserve, and Sections 1, 2, 3 Block IX 0 acres 3 roods 5 perches Site for Public Buildings of General Government. Note: There appears to be some confusion in the records regarding the Block for Sections 1, 2,3, sometimes stated as Block IX and sometimes as Block X. Block IX refers to Pipiriki Township while Block X refers to the underlying Rarete Survey District. During a perusal of the records held in National Archives, I noted in Wh. BOF 528 Vol.1 a letter from the Minister of Lands dated 14 October 1897 requesting an early Court sitting in Wanganui to settle the ownership of Pipiriki Township. The application for Investigation of Title was first heard in November 1897 and Whanganui Minute Book 36 shows the following : 11.11.97 Folio 59 Adjournment requested. 10.1.98 Folio 202 Adjourned. 20.1.98 Folio 257 Court told lists were being prepared and written up. Adjournment requested. Page 2 24.1.98 Folios 259- 280 Major Kemp handed in a list of 200 names. Paora Ngapo and others put forward claims. Case adjourned so owners might settle relative interests. 1.2.98 Folio 294 Adjournment requested. 2.2.98 Folio 295 Adjournment requested. 4.2.98 Folio 298 Preliminary agreement and further adjourned. 7.2.98 Folios 301- 302 Further submissions then adjourned. 11.2.98 Folios 305- 312 Order made listing 211 owners and relatives shares. The Order for Pipiriki Native Township is not signed presumably because there is no supporting Court Order diagram (Exhibit D). It would however have contained all the lands in Plan No. 793 (SO 13990) less :- (a) All those areas shown as Roads or Streets, and (b) All those areas proclaimed as Government Reserves in NZG dated 30 September 1897 page 1723. On 24 July 1919 Ref.Whanganui Minute Book 72 Folios 149-151 (Exhibit E) the Court made Partition Orders in respect of :- Native Reserve Section 10A Block IX Native Reserve Section 10B Block IX Native Reserve Section 10C Block IX Native Reserve Section 10D Block IX while on the 25th July 1919 Ref, Whanganui Minute Book 72 Folio 158 the Court made Partition Orders in respect of :- Native Reserve Section 3A Block VII Native Reserve Section 3B Block VII (Exhibit F). At the conclusion of both these applications i.e. at Folios 151 and 158 the Court recorded .....”The balance of the land containing (area not given in Minute Book) acres to be called Pipiriki Township No. 1 and to be in favour of the remaining owners for the whole of their shares and of those owners whose names appear in the previous Partition Orders for the Page 3 balance of their shares”. Turning now to the specific areas under investigation :- Section 24 Block I of 5 acres 1 rood 30 perches is defined on Plan No. 793 or SO 13990 and under Section 12 of the Native Townships Act 1995, was set aside as a Public Cemetery Reserve. My investigations indicate that it is still subject to this legislation. I have been unable to find any reference to any compensation being paid and there would appear to have been no consultation with the Maori people of the area. The plan was, however, on display for two months in the Native Land Court at the end of 1896 and no doubt was available at the hearing of the Investigation of Title application in late 1897 and early 1898.