Wai 1040, #A59 Te Paparahi o Te Raki Local study: Tuparehuia, Otara, Oteaka, and Whangaruru-Whakaturia ___________________________________________________ T.J. Hearn June 2016 Commissioned by the Waitangi Tribunal for the Te Paparahi o Te Raki Inquiry (Wai 1040) Frontispiece: The Otara, Oteaka, Tuparehuia, and Whangaruru-Whakaturia blocks ii Table of Contents The author .......................................................................................................................... xii Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... xii Definition ............................................................................................................................ xii Spellings and abbreviations ........................................................................................ xiii Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 Key questions and methodology ............................................................................................ 3 The structure of this report ..................................................................................................... 7 Sources employed........................................................................................................................ 8 Difficulties encountered ............................................................................................................ 9 Chapter 1: From customary to proprietary titles, 1890 to 1950 .................... 11 1.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 11 1.2 Establishing ownership: Otara, Tuparehuia, and Oteaka .................................... 14 1.3 Establishing ownership: Whangaruru-Whakaturia ............................................... 18 1.3.1 The Whangaruru-Whakaturia papatupu block committee .....................................21 1.3.2 Before the Native Appellate Court .....................................................................................25 1.4 The Native Land Commission investigates ................................................................ 26 1.5 The structure of Maori land ownership c.1908 ....................................................... 29 1.6 Partitioning the blocks ..................................................................................................... 31 1.6.1 Whangaruru-Whakaturia ......................................................................................................31 1.6.2 Otara ...............................................................................................................................................39 1.6.3 Oteaka ............................................................................................................................................41 1.7 Alienations to c.1950 ......................................................................................................... 41 1.8 Alienations: shingle rights .............................................................................................. 43 1.9 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................... 50 Chapter 2: Consolidating Maori land ownership, 1928 to 1952 ..................... 52 2.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 52 2.2 Consolidating interests in land ...................................................................................... 53 2.3 Consolidation: the proximate origins ......................................................................... 54 2.4 Consolidation as the solution ......................................................................................... 56 2.4.1 Consolidation: the legislative framework, 1909 to c1950 .......................................57 iii 2.4.2 The Tokerau Consolidation Scheme ..................................................................................60 2.4.3 The Bay of Islands Consolidation Scheme ......................................................................61 2.4.4 Remitting survey charges ......................................................................................................63 2.5 Approaches to consolidation .......................................................................................... 64 2.5.1 The comprehensive approach: Series D, Whangaruru ..............................................65 2.5.2 Trial locations .............................................................................................................................68 2.5.3 Trial locations and ‘final’ orders .........................................................................................71 2.6 ‘Family consolidation’ in the Bay of Islands, 1940-1941 ...................................... 74 2.6.1 Family consolidation in the Whangaruru district........................................................74 2.6.2 Beyond the ‘order stage’? ......................................................................................................80 2.7 Post-Acheson consolidation ........................................................................................... 82 2.8 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................... 87 Chapter 3: From land reform to land development: the Whangaruru development ‘units’ ........................................................................................................ 90 3.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 90 3.2 Investing in development: Whangaruru-Whakaturia and Otara blocks ........ 92 3.3 Assisting Maori farmers ................................................................................................... 93 3.3.1 The Native Trustee ...................................................................................................................97 3.3.2 Tokerau Maori Land Board advances ...............................................................................98 3.4 State funding of Maori land development ................................................................. 98 3.4.1 Four development schemes in Te Tai Tokerau.............................................................99 3.4.2 The Bay of Islands Development Scheme .................................................................... 100 3.4.3 Land development, Series D, Bay of Islands Development Scheme .................. 102 3.5 The Whangaruru development ‘units’ ..................................................................... 104 3.5.1 Opai Matenga ........................................................................................................................... 104 3.5.2 Erueti Reihana Pene .............................................................................................................. 109 3.5.3 Mohi Hare and Tamihana Mohi Rewiti (Thompson Davis) .................................. 112 3.5.4 George Tamihana ................................................................................................................... 113 3.6 Land development and consolidation ...................................................................... 115 3.7 The roading saga .............................................................................................................. 116 3.8 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................ 123 Chapter 4: The Ngaiotonga development scheme: origins and ownership, 1914 to 1980 ................................................................................................................... 126 iv 4.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 126 4.2 Otara and Whangaruru-Whakaturia: investment and development, 1914 to 1951 ............................................................................................................................................. 127 4.3 New approaches to land reform and land development ................................... 131 4.4 The origins of the Ngaiotonga development scheme.......................................... 133 4.4.1 Two reports .............................................................................................................................. 133 4.4.2 The owners meet, February 1952 ................................................................................... 134 4.4.3 A detailed proposal ............................................................................................................... 136 4.5 A ‘pocket consolidation:’ the Ngaiotonga consolidation scheme ................... 138 4.6 Restructuring land ownership: conversion and live buying ............................ 147 4.7 Ngaiotonga: the structure of ownership at two dates ........................................ 154 4.8 Land ownership: the course of reform .................................................................... 156 4.9 Conclusions .......................................................................................................................