The Operation of Papatupu Block Committees in the Te Paparahi O Te Raki Inquiry District, 1900-1909
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Wai 1040, #A62 ‘The Power to Settle the Title’?: The operation of papatupu block committees in the Te Paparahi o Te Raki inquiry district, 1900-1909 Paul Hamer and Paul Meredith A report commissioned by the Waitangi Tribunal for the Te Paparahi o Te Raki inquiry (Wai 1040) October 2016 About the authors Paul Hamer is a Wellington historian. He holds an MA (Distinction) from Victoria University of Wellington and is currently enrolled in a PhD at Monash University in Melbourne. He has worked as a professional historian since 1992, mainly at the Waitangi Tribunal where from 1993 to 1995 he was a research officer and from 1996 until 2004 he was the Senior Report Writer, the manager of the section of Tribunal staff who assist Tribunal members to write their reports. From 2004 until 2007 he worked at Te Puni Kōkiri as a senior analyst and policy manager. Since 2008 he has worked as a contract report writer and contract researcher at the Tribunal (ongoing) and as a contract researcher and project co-ordinator for the Institute of Policy Studies at Victoria University (from 2009 to 2011). He was a senior associate of the Institute of Policy Studies from 2008 to 2012 and since 2012 has been a research associate of Te Kawa a Māui, the School of Māori Studies at Victoria University. As a report writer he assisted in the drafting of a number of Tribunal reports, including Ngai Tahu Ancillaries (1995), Whanganui River (1999), Ngati Awa Raupatu (1999), Pakakohi and Tangahoe Settlement Claims (2000), Te Arawa Mandate (2004), Mohaka ki Ahuriri (2004), Ko Aotearoa Tēnei (2011), and He Whakaputanga me Te Tiriti (2014). His previous commissioned research report for the Tribunal was ‘Porotī Springs and the Resource Management Act, 1991-2015’, which was completed in April 2016 for the Te Paparahi o Te Raki (Wai 1040) inquiry. He has authored a number of articles published in scholarly journals, mainly about the migration of Māori and other New Zealanders to Australia. In 2006 he was a visiting fellow at Griffith University where he researched and wrote a report on Māori in Australia published by Te Puni Kōkiri in 2007. Paul Meredith is of Ngāti Maniapoto and Pākehā descent. He holds an LLB and BA(Hons) (First Class) from Waikato University and is currently enrolled in a PhD at Victoria University of Wellington. He was a Research Fellow at Te Mātāhauariki Research Institute, Waikato University (1998-2006) where he also taught in the Law School. He has also taught in the Law School (2006), the History Programme (2007) and Te Kawa a Māui (2010-2011) at Victoria University of Wellington. He has worked has a contract writer and contract researcher. He has completed several reports for the Crown Forestry Rental Trust including co-leading the Ngāti Maniapoto mana whenua report project (2013-14). He has long been familiar with the work of the papatupu committees having translated the publication He Karanga Hokianga for the Office of Treaty Settlements with agreement from the Te Rarawa negotiators (2004). He most recently was contracted to write the Māori exhibition text for He Whakaputanga and Te Tiriti o Waitangi for their new space at the National Library to be opened in 2017. Paul has authored a number of articles published in scholarly journals around Māori identity, customary law and history. He is a co-author of Te Mātāpunenga: A Compendium of References to the Concepts and Institutions of Māori Customary Law published by Victoria University Press in 2013. i Cover image The cover image shows the label on the front cover of papatupu minute book 43. Wai 1040 document #A54(b), vol 31, p 6373 Report title In 1900 the former Native Minister, Alfred Cadman, told the Legislative Council that, through the introduction of the papatupu block committees, Māori land claimants would ‘virtually’ have ‘the power to settle the title and the boundaries’ of those lands. NZPD, vol 115, 12 October 1900, p 307 ii Table of Contents About the authors................................................................................................................................. i List of Images ..................................................................................................................................... v List of Figures ..................................................................................................................................... v List of Tables ...................................................................................................................................... v Abbreviations..................................................................................................................................... vi Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................... vi Chapter 1: Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Commission background .............................................................................................................. 2 1.3 Methodology ................................................................................................................................. 5 1.3.1 Roles, approach, and primary sources ................................................................................... 5 1.3.2 Matters not addressed ............................................................................................................ 7 1.3.3 Secondary sources ................................................................................................................. 8 1.3.3 Te reo Māori sources and orthography .................................................................................. 9 1.4 Te Paparahi o Te Raki inquiry Claims concerning the papatupu block committees .................. 11 1.5 The contents of this report .......................................................................................................... 14 Chapter 2: The 1900 legislation and Māori and Crown expectations .............................. 17 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 17 2.2 The background to the papatupu committees ............................................................................. 17 2.3 The Maori Lands Administration Act 1900 ................................................................................ 27 2.4 Committee regulations ................................................................................................................ 31 2.5 Comparison of the new regime with the Native Land Court ...................................................... 32 2.6 Māori and Crown expectations of the committees ..................................................................... 36 2.7 Changes to the legislation governing the papatupu committees, 1901-1906 .............................. 40 2.8 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 43 Chapter 3: Setting up the block committees........................................................................ 45 3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 45 3.2 The Council’s explanation of the new regime at district-wide sittings in 1902 ......................... 45 3.3 The first Council sitting for setting up block committees .......................................................... 49 3.4 Venues for Council sittings ........................................................................................................ 52 3.5 Notice by the Council of its sittings and by the claimants of their applications ......................... 54 3.6 Members present at Council sittings convened to set up block committees ............................... 56 3.7 Numbers of claimants ................................................................................................................. 60 3.8 The claiming of non-papatupu blocks ........................................................................................ 68 3.9 Grounds of claim stated to the Council ...................................................................................... 70 3.10 Appointment and apportionment of block committee members .............................................. 74 3.11 The absence of women from papatupu committees .................................................................. 82 3.12 Costs to claimants and resources for the Council ..................................................................... 83 3.13 Tautoro (or Motatau 5) and Iraia Kuao’s resistance to the setting up of a block committee .... 85 3.14 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 88 Chapter 4: The general course of block committee inquiries ............................................ 91 4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 91 4.2 Venues and preliminary administrative matters at committee sittings ......................................