Wairarapa Maori ki Pouakani Research Report Warren Wairau Report commissioned by the Waitangi Tribunal December 2002 Contents Section I: Introduction to this Commission __________________________________ 1 1.1. The Author ____________________________________________________________ 1 1.2. The Commission ________________________________________________________ 1 1.3. Report Structure ________________________________________________________ 2 1.4. Research Methodology and Sources ________________________________________ 2 Section II: The ‘Wairarapa Exchange’ _____________________________________ 4 2.1. Introduction____________________________________________________________ 4 2.2. The Crown’s acquisition of the Wairarapa lakes ______________________________ 4 2.3. Providing a reserve _____________________________________________________ 12 2.4. Conclusion ____________________________________________________________ 26 Section III: The Mangakino Township_____________________________________ 30 3.1. Introduction ___________________________________________________________ 30 3.2. The Pouakani owners and the creation of Mangakino_________________________ 30 3.3. The transfer of Mangakino to the owners ___________________________________ 46 3.4. The Owners’ town ______________________________________________________ 62 3.5. The move to freehold ____________________________________________________ 74 3.6. Conclusion ____________________________________________________________ 87 Section IV: Land Administration, 1970-2000________________________________ 95 4.1. Introduction ___________________________________________________________ 95 4.2. The Pouakani Development Scheme, 1947-1969______________________________ 95 4.3. The difficulties of the 1970s______________________________________________ 100 4.4. The move towards owner control, 1977-1980s ______________________________ 113 4.5. Pouakani 2 Trust and the Crown, 1990s ___________________________________ 129 4.6.Conclusion ____________________________________________________________ 137 Section V: Returns to Owners ___________________________________________ 143 5.1. Introduction __________________________________________________________ 143 5.2. Early benefits and timber royalties _______________________________________ 143 5.3. The Incorporation’s Forestry Assets ______________________________________ 150 5.4. The Pouakani 2 Trust returns ___________________________________________ 160 5.5. Other benefits_________________________________________________________ 163 5.6. Conclusion ___________________________________________________________ 166 Section VI: Conclusions _______________________________________________ 169 Bibliography_________________________________________________________ 175 1 Section I: Introduction to this Commission 1.1. The Author My name is Warren Wairau and I am a Research Officer at the Waitangi Tribunal. I was born in Napier and raised in Mahia and my main iwi affiliations are Ngati Kahungunu and Ngati Porou. I have a Masters degree in History from Massey University, Palmerston North. I commenced employment at the Waitangi Tribunal in April 2002 and I now live in Wellington. 1.2. The Commission In July 2002 I was commissioned by the Waitangi Tribunal to research and write a report that ‘assesses the overall benefit of the Pouakani lands to Wairarapa Maori’.1 The purpose of the commission was to determine and assess the advantages that Wairarapa Maori have received from the 30,486 acre part of the land known as the Pouakani Block after it was vested in certain Wairarapa Maori by Native Land Court order of 22 January 1915.2 This portion of land, situated along the western banks of the Waikato River 20 miles north-east of Taupo, was granted to Wairarapa Maori by the Crown as part of the exchange for their rights to the Wairarapa lakes. This exchange thus resulted in Wairarapa Maori receiving lands far outside their traditional tribal area. This report will specifically cover the following topics as stipulated in the report’s commission: (a) Further explanation of the decision by the Crown to offer, and some claimants to accept, the Pouakani lands as a satisfactory substitute for Wairarapa lakes reserves (b) The ultimate outcomes and benefits for owners of the Mangakino township and hydroelectric scheme, including overall profits and employment opportunities (c) The ways in which, and the degree to which, the Pouakani lands benefited Wairarapa Maori overall 1 Direction Commissioning Research, 22 July 2002, Wai 863, doc 3.9 2 New Zealand Gazette, 14 April 1916, p. 1105 2 (d) The history of the development scheme and land administration from 1970 to the present day.3 1.3. Report Structure This report consists of five main sections that essentially follows the terms of reference outlined above. The first of these examines how Wairarapa Maori initially became involved with Pouakani due to the Crown’s offer of it as an alternative reserve to land adjacent to the Wairarapa lakes. This section will attempt to further clarify the reasoning of the Crown’s decision, and also why some Wairarapa Maori accepted this proposal. The following section appraises the benefits that the Pouakani owners have gained from the Mangakino township which was established on the block by the Ministry of Works during the 1940s. Created to accommodate construction workers for the development of hydroelectric schemes on the Waikato River, this section will determine how profitable and useful the township has been to Wairarapa Maori. The next section covers the history of the Pouakani development scheme and the block’s land administration from 1970 to the present. This will specifically investigate those issues that have arisen between the owners and the Crown regarding the latter’s management of the Pouakani farming lands. The section after that examines other forms of benefits that the owners have gained from possessing this block, particularly the owners’ forestry operations. The final section offers an overall assessment on the value that Pouakani has provided for Wairarapa Maori. 1.4. Research Methodology and Sources This report is based mainly on primary material located in the Wellington and Auckland Regional Offices of Archives New Zealand, The Alexander Turnbull and National libraries, Wellington and Te Puni Kokiri Head Office, Wellington. Relevant sources held at the Waiariki Maori Land Court, Rotorua, were also examined although limited time precluded a more thorough search of the material there. Much of the primary records consulted had previously been compiled into a document bank by Helen McCracken, with the assistance of Jennifer Halder, for a report undertaken by the former and 3 Direction Commissioning Research, 22 July 2002, Wai 863, doc 3.9 3 commissioned by the Crown Forestry Rental Trust. McCracken’s draft report, ‘The Proprietors of the Mangakino Incorporation, Pouakani No. 2 Trust and the Crown, 1896- 1990s’, covers many of the same issues also examined in this report. It is necessary that this report is read in conjunction with McCracken’s if the reader wishes to obtain a more complete understanding of the issues discussed. This study has been commissioned to supplement McCracken’s report and hers provides a detailed analysis of the origins of the issues raised in this research paper. I would like to acknowledge the contributions of Helen McCracken, Dawn Coburn, Kahu McClutchie, Molly Kino, Peter Little, Michael Johnston and Noelene Reti to this report, and thank both Dr. Grant Phillipson and Dougal Ellis for the valuable comments they made to my drafts. 4 Section II: The ‘Wairarapa Exchange’ 2.1. Introduction The association between Wairarapa Maori and the block of land known as part Pouakani has its origins in the dispute over the Wairarapa lakes during the second half of the nineteenth century. This contest involved local Maori and the growing number of Pakeha pastoralists in the south Wairarapa over the lakes’ fluctuating water levels. As the demand for farming land increased, European settlers eventually established pastures on the lakes’ margins. These would be inundated with water, however, during the summer months due to the natural closure of the lakes’ only outlet to the sea. Mounting settler pressure to have this passage artificially opened was opposed by local Maori who traditionally made their most productive catches of fish during the flooding, especially of eels. The disagreement eventually led to Crown intervention. The resident Maori ultimately decided to gift the lakes to the Crown after much discord, on the condition that they would receive reserves along the lakes’ foreshores to continue their customary fishing practices. The reserve eventually granted was Pouakani in the south Waikato. This section will attempt to provide further explanation as to why the Crown offered, and why some Wairarapa Maori accepted, this block of land as a substitute for reserves along the Wairarapa lakes. The actual alienation of the lakes has already been covered in a number of other reports4 while McCracken has also examined the beginnings of what has subsequently become known as the ‘Wairarapa Exchange’.5 2.2. The Crown’s acquisition of the Wairarapa lakes European pastoralists had entered south Wairarapa soon after Grey and McLean had made their land purchases during the early 1850s. The regular flooding of the lakes’ margins did not prove to be an impediment to the majority of farmers as much grazing 4 See for example T. Crocker, ‘The History of Alienation of