Wai 2200, #A205 Te Atiawa/Ngati Awa ki Kapiti - Inland Waterways: Ownership and Control Ross Webb A report commissioned by the Waitangi Tribunal for the Porirua ki Manawatū District Inquiry (Wai 2200) Research Programme September 2018 Cover Image: ‘A native woman setting a net’ on the Waikanae river, Auckland Weekly News, 16 October 1924 Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, AWNS-19241016-42-9; Wellington Plan DP 15859 (Source: Quick maps) ii The Author Ross Webb is a Senior Research Analyst at the Waitangi Tribunal Unit and holds a Masters of Arts in History from the University of Auckland. Ross has been employed at the Unit since 2015. In this time, he has also presented evidence in the Te Paparahi o Te Raki Inquiry (Wai 1040) on rural rivers, environmental management and the Resource Management Act 1991. More recently, Ross has completed a report for the Military Veterans Inquiry (Wai 2500), entitled ‘Equality and Autonomy: An Overview of Maori Military Service for the Crown, c1899-1945’. Ross has also worked as a research assistant in the Porirua ki Manawatu Inquiry (Wai 2200). Before working at the Tribunal Unit, Ross completed an MA Thesis in History at the University of Auckland which explored the lives of men and women who worked in New Zealand’s freezing works between 1973 and 1994. Ross has published historical articles in the Australasian Journal of American Studies and the New Zealand Labour History Project Bulletin. He is also a member of New Zealand Historical Association, the Professional Historians Association New Zealand and the Labour History Project. Prior to working at the Tribunal, Ross has worked as a researcher and a teaching assistant. Acknowledgements I would like to thank the following people for their help in the production of this report: Suzanne Woodley, Cathy Marr, Emma Kelly, Tui MacDonald and Craig Innes. iii Contents Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………………1 Chapter One: ................................................................................................................................... 11 Te Atiawa/Ngati Awa ki Kapiti Ownership and Control of Waterways, and Environmental Change ......................................................................................................................................................... 11 1.1 Introduction.............................................................................................................................................. 11 1.2 Te Atiawa/Ngati Awa ki Kapiti ‘ownership’ and control of waterways and waterway resources 12 1.3 New forms of Ownership and Control and resulting Environmental change .............................. 15 Chapter Two: .................................................................................................................................. 21 Settlement and New Forms of Legal Ownership and Control and Inland Waterways: the Waikanae river ................................................................................................................................................. 21 2.1 Introduction.............................................................................................................................................. 21 2.2 Common law assumptions and waterway ownership ........................................................................ 23 2.3 Land ownership adjoining the Waikanae river and other waterways .............................................. 25 2.4 Implications for Te Atiawa/Ngati Awa ki Kapiti of new forms of ownership ............................. 26 2.5 Questions about river boundaries and legal title in the mid-1930s ................................................. 30 2.6 The upper reaches of the Waikanae river tributaries and Reikorangi area ..................................... 34 Chapter Three ................................................................................................................................ 36 The Management and Control of the Waikanae river: Flood Protection, Soil Conservation, and Compulsory Takings...................................................................................................................... 36 3.1 Introduction.............................................................................................................................................. 36 3.2 Early twentieth-century concerns about flood damage ..................................................................... 36 3.3 Soil Conservation and river control, 1941-1968 ................................................................................. 44 3.4 Compulsory takings for soil conservation ........................................................................................... 49 3.4.1 Ngarara West A3C ......................................................................................................................... 50 3.4.2 Ngarara West A21D ....................................................................................................................... 52 3.4.3 Ngarara West A22A1 and A22A2 ............................................................................................... 52 3.5 Further areas along the Waikanae river acquired as reserves ........................................................... 54 Chapter Four .................................................................................................................................. 56 The Waikanae river Mouth and Estuary ........................................................................................ 56 4.1 Early application of common law assumptions .................................................................................. 56 4.2 The Waikanae Land Company purchase and water rights application ........................................... 60 iv 4.3 Crown purchase of River mouth and estuary ..................................................................................... 64 Chapter Five ................................................................................................................................... 68 Other waterways of significance to Te Atiawa/Ngati awa ki Kapiti ............................................. 68 5.1 Waimeha (Waimea) river and the Waimeha and Waimanu lagoons................................................ 69 5.2 Pirikawau springs ..................................................................................................................................... 71 5.3 Lakes Totara and Kawhakahia............................................................................................................... 74 Summary and Concluding Remarks .............................................................................................. 76 Bibliography .................................................................................................................................. 79 Archives New Zealand ......................................................................................................................................... 79 Alexander Turnbull .............................................................................................................................................. 82 Wellington City Council Archives ...................................................................................................................... 83 Kapiti Coast District Council Archives ............................................................................................................. 83 v Table of Figures Figure 1 ‘River scene at Waikanae, New Zealand’, painted by Charles Barraud, 1852. ........... 11 Figure 2 ‘A native woman setting a net’, Auckland Weekly News, 16 October 1924 .............. 14 Figure 3 Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company Ltd. Waikanaen [ca 1890s] ................. 17 Figure 4 Wellington Plan ML 1491 Sheet 1 (Source: Quick map) .............................................. 22 Figure 5 Wellington Plan DP 3432 (See Quickmaps) ................................................................... 28 Figure 6 Wellington plan ML 4075 (Source: Quickmaps) ............................................................ 31 Figure 7 Wellington Plan DP 15859 (Source: Quick maps) ......................................................... 33 Figure 8 Wellington Plan SO 13529 (Source: Quickmaps) .......................................................... 35 Figure 9 Petition from a number of landowners, most of whom were Maori, 1913. .............. 39 Figure 10 ‘Waikanae river on the rampage’ in 1923 ...................................................................... 43 Figure 11 Maori land acquired for soil conservation along the Waikanae river. ....................... 49 Figure 12 Wellington Plan SO 24197 (Source: Quick Map) ........................................................ 50 Figure 13 Wellington Plan SO 24520, (Source: Quick Map) ....................................................... 54 Figure 14 Wellington Plan SO 15982 (Source: Quickmaps) ........................................................ 55 Figure 15 Wellington Plan ML 4533 (Source: Quick maps) ........................................................ 57 Figure 16 Proposed Road access to a Fishermen's reserve at the Waikanae river .................... 58 Figure 17 The Waikanae Land Company's Certificate of Title Plan ........................................... 61 Figure 18 Waikanae river Mouth. ....................................................................................................