OFFICIAL Wai 903, A58 The Native Land Court and Maori Land Alienation Patterns in the Whanganui District 1865-1900 September 2004 Dr James S Mitchell Table of Contents Introduction......................................................................................................................... 1 The Author......................................................................................................................1 The Claims......................................................................................................................1 The Commission ............................................................................................................. 1 Structure.......................................................................................................................... 3 Parameters of the Study and Definitions of Terms......................................................... 4 Chapter 1: Background to Maori Land Alienation in Whanganui 1865-1900 ................... 9 1.1 Patterns of Maori Land Alienation in Whanganui 1865-1900.................................. 9 1.2 The Native Land Court Process 1865-1900............................................................ 12 1.2.1 Native Land Court Titles ................................................................................. 13 1.2.2 Protections for Maori in Nineteenth Century ‘Native’ Land Legislation........ 18 1.3 Contemporary Criticisms of the Court System....................................................... 20 1.4 The Role of Assessors............................................................................................. 22 1.5 Evolving Policy and Practices of Land Purchasing ................................................ 24 1.6 Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 25 Chapter 2: The Native Land Court in the Whanganui District ......................................... 26 2.1 The Operations of the Court in Whanganui............................................................ 26 2.2 Title Issues in Whanganui....................................................................................... 29 2.2.1 The Ten Owner Rule........................................................................................ 29 2.2.2 Individualisation and Fragmentation of Maori Land Titles............................. 35 2.2.3 The Difficulties of Keeping Land Outside of the Court System ..................... 41 2.3 Maori Responses to the Court................................................................................. 44 2.3.1 Attempts to Settle Titles Out Of Court ............................................................ 44 2.3.2 Criticisms of the Native Land Court’s System of Title ................................... 51 2.3.3 Protests About Survey...................................................................................... 52 2.4 Costs of the Native Land Court .............................................................................. 55 2.4.1 Survey Costs .................................................................................................... 56 2.4.2 Court Fees and Direct Costs ............................................................................ 64 2.4.3 Other Indirect Costs of the Court..................................................................... 69 2.4.4 Other Costs....................................................................................................... 74 2.4.5 Debt and Crown Land Purchasing ................................................................... 75 2.4.6 Land Sales as a Source of Capital for Land Development .............................. 78 2.5 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 80 Chapter 3: Crown Purchase Tactics in Whanganui .......................................................... 82 3.1 Pre-Title Advances on Maori Lands....................................................................... 82 3.1.1 Extent of Crown Advances .............................................................................. 84 3.1.2 Post Advances Period: Distribution of Payments in Rawhitiroa ..................... 89 3.1.3 The Risks for the Crown in Making Advances on Land to Which Title Had Not Been Awarded.................................................................................................... 93 3.1.4 Refunding of Advances.................................................................................... 94 3.1.5 Advances and Land Prices............................................................................... 96 3.2 Serial Partition and Alienation................................................................................ 98 3.2.2 Crown Attempts to Keep the Number of Grantees Low................................ 100 3.2.3 Payments for Assistance with Purchase......................................................... 102 3.3 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 107 Chapter 4: The Crown and Private Purchasers in Whanganui 1865-1900 ..................... 109 4.1 The Extent of Private Land Purchasing ................................................................ 110 4.2 Tactics of Private Land Purchasers....................................................................... 114 4.3 Crown Motivations in Restricting Private Purchasing.......................................... 117 4.4 The Crown and Private Purchasers....................................................................... 118 4.4.1 The Native Land Purchases Act 1877............................................................ 118 4.4.2 The Native Land Alienation Restriction Act 1884 and the Railway Exclusion Zone ........................................................................................................................ 127 4.5 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 134 Chapter 5: Safeguards Protection Mechanisms and Rights of Appeal ........................... 136 5.1 Reserves and Restrictions Imposed by the Native Land Court............................. 136 5.1.1 The Laws Governing Restrictions on Alienation........................................... 137 5.1.2 Restrictions on Alienation in Whanganui...................................................... 139 5.1.3 Crown Powers to Purchase Land Subject to Restrictions.............................. 145 5.1.4 Confusion over the Nature of Restrictions on Alienation.............................. 145 5.2 Native Land Court Appeals and Rehearings......................................................... 148 5.3 Trust Commissioners ............................................................................................ 149 5.4 Petitions to the Government and Parliament ........................................................ 156 5.4.1 The Rawhitiroa Case...................................................................................... 162 5.5 Conclusions........................................................................................................... 165 Conclusions..................................................................................................................... 168 Bibliography ................................................................................................................... 175 Published Sources ....................................................................................................... 175 Unpublished Sources .................................................................................................. 176 Archives ...................................................................................................................... 179 Electronic Resources................................................................................................... 179 Appendix A: Methodology for calculating the number of days on which the Maori Land Court held hearings......................................................................................................... 181 Appendix B: Table of Court Costs Estimated for Each Block in the Whanganui District and Methodology ............................................................................................................ 183 Acknowledgements......................................................................................................... 193 Figures Figure 1: Whanganui Inquiry District with Block Boundaries........................................... 5 Figure 1a: Block Boundaries for Lower River Blocks ....................................................... 6 Figure 2: Maori Land Remaining in Whanganui District 1840-2000............................... 10 Figure 3: Alienation of Maori Land by Decade 1840s-2000s .......................................... 11 Figure 4: Proportions of Land Alienated to Different Parties in Whanganui by Decade 1860s-1900s ...................................................................................................................... 11 Figure 5: Number of Days of Native Land Court Sittings in Whanganui 1865-1900...... 27 Figure 6: Types of Cases Brought Before the Court......................................................... 28 Figure 7: Blocks Which Passed through the Court During the 10 Owner Rule Period in the Whanganui District ....................................................................................................