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Wai 2200, #A222 Twentieth Century Muaupoko Land Alienation and Administration Gap-Filling Research Bruce Stirling August 2020 A Report Commissioned by the Crown Forestry Rental Trust Table of Contents Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 1 1. Private Purchasing.......................................................................................................................... 8 1.2 Lease to Purchase .................................................................................................................... 24 1.3 Debt Transactions and Mortgages ....................................................................................... 33 1.4 Debt Transactions and Vested Lands .................................................................................. 44 1.5 Other Debt Transactions ....................................................................................................... 52 2. Landlessness .................................................................................................................................. 58 2.1 Alienations Deferred by Landlessness ................................................................................. 59 2.2 Leasing and Landlessness ...................................................................................................... 67 2.3 Early Landlessness .................................................................................................................. 69 2.4 Later Landlessness .................................................................................................................. 74 2.5 Landlessness After 1953 ........................................................................................................ 76 3. Statutory Paternalism ................................................................................................................... 82 3.1 Statutory Paternalism in Practice .......................................................................................... 84 3.2 Statutory Paternalism and Landlessness .............................................................................. 92 3.3 Statutory Paternalism and the Hanita Whanau ................................................................ 105 3.4 Statutory Paternalism and the Taueki Whanau ................................................................ 118 3.5 Paternalism and Hema Taueki ............................................................................................ 125 3.6 Statutory Paternalism After 1953 ....................................................................................... 132 4. The Results of Title Fragmentation ........................................................................................ 138 4.1 Landlocked Land ................................................................................................................... 138 4.2 Uneconomic Land ............................................................................................................... 151 4.3 Survey Costs and a Usurious Crown.................................................................................. 156 5. Rates ............................................................................................................................................. 167 5.1 The Enforced Sale of Land for Rates Arrears, 1964-1975 ............................................. 182 5.2 Other Alienations Related to Rates Arrears...................................................................... 190 6. Public Works Takings................................................................................................................ 194 Bibliography .......................................................................................................................................... 198 Supporting Documents Table of Contents ...................................................................................... 207 Appendix: Project Brief ....................................................................................................................... 215 Introduction This gap-filling research project concerns the alienation and administration of Muaupoko lands within the Horowhenua block in the twentieth century. The focus is on Horowhenua 3 and Horowhenua 11 blocks, which were the two main titles remaining largely in Muaupoko ownership at 1900. Horowhenua 11 originally comprised 14,975 acres, but a number of parts of this title were either alienated prior to 1900 or have already been the subject of other research and are thus excluded from consideration here. These areas are Lake Horowhenua (901 acres), the State Farm Crown purchase (1,500 acres), Horowhenua 11B42C1 (a Crown purchase of 1,088 acres), and Hokio A (912 acres). This leaves about 10,574 acres of Horowhenua under consideration for this project. Horowhenua 3 originally comprised 11,130 acres. As of 1900 about 45 subdivisions had been privately purchased comprising about 5,756 acres and one subdivision was acquired by the Crown in 1900 (Horowhenua 3E5 of 835 acres 1 rood 32 perches).1 (It should be noted that Horowhenua 3E5A and 3E5B are separate titles, rather than any sort of partition of 3E5.) This leaves about 4,539 acres of Horowhenua 3 to be examined in this project. Together, the remnants of Horowhenua 3 and Horowhenua 11 at 1900 comprise just over 15,100 acres, which were partitioned and re-partitioned into about 500 titles over time. These lands are the focus of the report. They were subject to private purchasing, public works takings, enforced sales for rates arrears, and title fragmentation which together greatly reduced the area of land remaining in Muaupoko ownership today. The results of land purchasing and other alienations in the twentieth century is that various Muaupoko owners today retain interests in a total of 6,049 acres of Maori land in the Horowhenua block, of which 553 acres is in Horowhenua 3 titles and 4,726 acres is in Horowhenua 11 titles.2 However, the latter figure includes Lake Horowhenua (901 acres) and Hokio A (912 acres), which are not considered in this evidence. After adjusting for those two 1 Wai 2200 #A161, pp.34 and 52-54. 2 Wai 2200 #A161(d). 1 large retained titles, the area remaining today with the portions of Horowhenua 11 that are being considered in this evidence is just over 2,900 acres. The difference between the approximately 15,100 acres of Muaupoko land in the portions of Horowhenua 3 and Horowhenua 11 considered here at 1900, and the approximately 3,450 acres of Maori land remaining within them today, is about 11,650 acres. This area of land, permanently alienated from Muaupoko ownership (nearly all of it by private purchase) is the focus of this report. As noted in the existing evidence, it is not possible – given the limitations of the sources – to account for every acre of Muaupoko land. However, most of the 11,650 acres of land alienated from Muaupoko ownership in the Horowhenua 3 and Horowhenua 11 blocks in the twentieth century can be accounted for: about 10,228 acres was privately purchased; about 677 acres was Europeanised; about 172 acres was taken for public purposes, and; about 16 acres was sold for rates arrears under the 1925 Act. This accounts for nearly 11,100 acres of the alienated land. Some lands not accounted for in the above figures may have fallen through the gaps between research projects. For instance, Horowhenua 11B38 (12 acres 3 roods) should be covered by the report on Public Works takings but is not referred to there.3 It has been listed as taken in 1907 under the Public Works Act 1905 and Horowhenua Lake Act 1905, although the date is not given.4 Other research indicates the land could not be taken under the Public Works Act and was instead purchased from the sole owner, Te Rangimairehau, in 1907 at a price of £21 5s. per acre (a total of about £280). The purchasing later included 1 acre 37 perches of Horowhenau 11B39 (20 acres 1 rood), acquired from Paranihia Riwai and Roka Hakopa.5 Horowhenua 11B38 was later vested in the Domain Board by a special provision in the Reserves and Other Lands Disposal Act 1917 (s.64), which also vested 37 perches of the adjoining 11B39 block (20 acres 1 rood). In a very few cases, nothing at all has been discovered about a title. During the course of this project, four small “reserves” were identified within the Horowhenua 11B subdivision of “Horowhenua Pa” (Te Rae o te Karaka) on the western shore of the lake. They are labelled “A Reserve” to “D Reserve,” varying in size from quarter of an acre to two and three-quarters of an acre (comprising in total 5 acres 2 roods 27 perches).6 Other than being marked on a plan, no record of these reserves has been located. The initial subdivision of Horowhenua 11A and 11B refers to “Reserves, lagoons, etc” comprising 33 acres, but no further details are given (although 3 Wai 2200 #A211. 4 Wai 2200 #A161, p.188. 5 Wai 2200 #A150, p.50, and; Wai 2200 #A161, p.189. 6 ML 1655, LINZ. 2 the four 11B reserves (A to D) are likely to be included in this figure).7 The Muaupoko Tribal Authority believe that Mitiwaha Kerei was the first trustee appointed for these reserves. The four small reserves may still remain Maori land (and are excluded from rating by the Horowhenua District Council), but no title or ownership information can be gleaned from online title and survey records. Other Horowhenua titles remaining

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