8 A Pre~iminary Report ~o ~he Wai~angi Tribuna~ on ~he c~aims re~a~ing ~o ~he Cha~ham Is~ands, ~odged under Sec~ion 6 of ~he Trea~y of Wai~angi Ac~ and regis~ered as WAI 54, WAI 64, and WAI 65. by Buddy Mikaere and Janine Ford (based on initial research materials compiled by Paul Harman) Zeblond " U9\:) Rangitutahi :' .~. \ (The Sisters) ., ..... 2;/........j ! ...................... ,::" .......... , Pi E 180· W Chatham Island CUb (] Ch o °nne{ Hanson Bay Western Petre Reef Owenga Motuhara o· 0 (The Forty-Fours) Q I). • Houruakopara Motuhope d d Sentry Reef (Star Keys) " Mangere Tapuaenuku (The Fort) #9 Rangiauria (PiU Island) Rangiwheoa (The Castle) .# Passage Rock CS Rangatira Ahuru Murumuru (South East Island) (Eastern Reef) Rangituke (Round Rock) South Reef . Fancy Rock o Tarakoekoea (The Pyramid) Figure 1: The Chatham Islands 2 Contents page Acknowledgements: ....................................... 3 Abbreviations: .......................................... 4 Part I: 1. Section 1: Introduction: ................................... 5 2. Section 2: The claims and claimants: ...................................... 6 3. Section 3: Scope of the research and report structure: ...................................... 9 4. Section 4: The claim area: ................................... _0 ...... 12 Part II: 5. Section 5: The Historical context: Moriori - research items 3, 4 and 10 : ............................................... 14 6. Section 6: The Historical context: Maori - research items 5 and 11: .............................................. 28 7. Section 7: The Historical context: New Zealand - research items 13 - 15' inc 1 usive: . ............... 38 8. Section 8: The Chatham Islands and the Treaty of Waitangi - research item 16 ..•...•.....•.•....• ~ .• 44 9. Section 9: Land Ownership - research items 1 - 2, 6 - 8 and 12:.................................... 4 6 10. Section 10: Fisheries - research items 17 - 19 inclusive: ........................................ 81 11. Section 11: General account of the background to the Chatham Islands claims - research items 9, 20 and 21: ............................................... 94 12. Summary Conclusion and Recommendations: .................................. 97 13 . Bibliography ...................................... 98 3 Acknowledgements For assistance with materials and advice the Tribunal acknowledges the contributions made by Dan Baker, Rev B Cox, Lyndsay Head, Dr Michael King, Rhys Richards, Sheila Natusch, Professor Gordon Parsonson, Jim Pohio, Maui Solomon, Dr Robert Stringer and Ms M White. From the staff of the Tribunal we wish to thank Paul Kennett, Kiritahi Takiari and Noel Harris for their contributions. 4 Abbreviations ATL Alexander Turnbull Library JPS Journal of the Polynesian Society NA National Archives RDB Raupatu Document Bank TNZI Transactions of the New Zealand Institute 5 PART 1 Section 1 1. Introduction 1.1 The attached report is in response to the commission contained in a direction dated 8 August 1990. 1 Because of the pressure of the Tribunal research workload and changes in personnel, completion of this report has been seriously delayed and the inconvenience caused to the claimants and the Tribunal is regretted. 1.2 The authors: My name is Buddy Mikaere and I am the Director of the Waitangi Tribunal. I have held this position for the last three years'. I am a published author specialising in New Zealand history. Previous work completed for the Tribunal includes reports on the background to the land confiscations at opotiki (Wai 87), the George Green Estate claim (Wai 157) and the Kekerione claim (Wai 181). My name is ,Janine Ford and I graduated with a BA (Hons) degree in history from the University of Canterbury in 1988. I have been working in the Treaty issues area for 3 and a half years, initially with Maruwhenua, the Maori Secretariat within the Ministry for the Environment.' I first'worked for the Waitangi Tribunal in August 1989, in conjunction with the Maori Land Information Office, compiling . material for the Raupatu Document Bank. I was then contracted by the Tribunal from July 1990 - December 1991, during which time I worked on the (Wai 143) Taranaki claim. In that time I completed six research reports and a report on the Whitireia Block in Porirua for Wai 89. I am currently contracted for further research work on the Taranaki claim. 1 Attached as Appendix 1. 6 Section 2 2. The Claims and the Claimants 2.1 For the purpose of this report and the initial Tribunal handling of claims related to the Chatham Islands, three seperate claims have been joined under Wai 64 as the master file for the Chatham Island claims. It is a convenient method of dealing with the claims but it should be noted that each claim retains its individual integrity. How the Tribunal will eventually deal with the claims will be determined in due course. 2.2 Set out below are brief details of the claims and the claimants. In submitting their claims, some of the claimants have used a paragraph numbering system similar to that used in this report. To avoid confusion, claimant numbering of paragraphs has been deleted but full copies of the unaltered statements of claim appear in the appendices. 2.3 WAI 54: This claim, filed by Makere Rangiatea Ralph Love and Ralph Heberley Ngatata Love on behalf ·of themselves and on behalf of the beneficiaries of the Taranaki Maori Trust Board, is dated 23 December 1987. While principally concerned with Taranaki confiscated lands, para 3 of the claim reads: FISHING RIGHTS ... BY denial of fishing rights as guaranteed by the Treaty of Waitangi in relation to the rivers, lakes, coastlines and harbours within the tribal boundaries of Nga Iwi 0 Taranaki • ... BY denial of the fishing rights as guaranteed by the Treaty of Waitangi in relation to the Tasman Sea, Cook Strait and the Pacific Ocean offshore from the lands within the tribal boundaries of Nga Iwi 0 Taranaki • ... BY denial of fishing rights in and around the Chatham Islands. 2.4 The claimants are members of the various hapu that make up the Taranaki iwi. 2.5 WAI 64: is dated 15 March 1988. The claimant, Maui Solomon states: ... I, ... , and all the members of my family, whanau, hapu and Moriori Iwi, claim that we have been prejudicially affected by the 7 actions of the Crown which have alienated us from our fisheries in Rekohu (Chatham Islands). We have been denied the rights and protections of our fisheries, lands and other valued things which were guaranteed to us in the Treaty of Waitangi .•• 2.6 WAI 65: is dated 6 April 1988 and is lodged by Mr R R Preece, Chairman Te Runanga 0 Wharekauri Rekohu •.. ..• on behalf of himself and on behalf of the descendants of the tangata whenua, iwi, hapu of the rohe described as Te Runanga 0 Wharekauri Rekohu, otherwise known as Nga Iwi 0 Wharekauri Rekohu or Nga Iwi 0 Chatham Islands. 2.7 They claim to be prejudicially affected by the following acts, policies and omissions by the Crown . ••. By neglect in which lands where taken by proclamation under the Public Works Act 1908 and were uncompensated for • ••• By neglect which lands were wrongfully designated in accordance with the Treaty of Waitangi • ••• By denial where lands on the foreshore have been alienated under the Local Bodies Act 1974 . .•• By failure where alienation of uneconomical shares, in land under the Maori Purposes Act 1968,2 were lost.' ••• BY the grant of lease to low water mark and the licence of use of foreshore and sea bed under the Harbours Act 1878, consolidated' Harbours Act 1950 and Harbours Act s. 156 • ..• By denial of mineral and water rights to Nga Iwi 0 Wharekauri Rekohu where title rests on two only dimensions, of length and breadth allowing a nonphysical third dimension of emotive concept thereby depriving them of the minerals and water rights beneath. FISHING RIGHTS: .•. By neglect, a limited access to the fisheries of non iwi commercial entrants 2 See the Maori Affairs Amendment Act 1967 No. 124 which amended the Maori Trustee Act of 1953 with the insertion of s41D and gave the Maori Trustee the power to ' ... acquire uneconomical interests in reserved land and vested land ... ' 8 provided for by the Fisheries Act 1877 also applied in practice to iwi participants who enjoyed unlimited amateur, professional and commercial status as of hereditary right . .•. By neglect where an unlimited access to fisheries was permitted by the Fisheries Act 1962 which matured as a property right that settled on specie[s] stocks acquired under the provisions of the Fisheries Act 1983 • ••• By neglect, to provide and to insure otherwise iwi, hapu, whanau and individual participants were treated as commonors in a Fisheries rendered common and so become affected by the control measures of the Fisheries Act • .•• Byfailure to continue unextinguished title to the fisheries and fish stocks, the minerals soluble in· the water and deposits on the sea bed and in the bed of the sea the and the bestowal of freehold and leasehold property rights on fish and the bed of the sea and the granting of property rights to individuals and groupings of individuals and the placing of . capital values on fish stocks are in breach of Article 2 of the Treaty of Waitangi • .•• By neglect of non-proclamation the Crown has not secured to nga iwi 0 Wharekauri Rekohu, the internal waters and the waters anq bed of the sea whose potential they have yet to reach . .•• BY denial of birding rights and sealing rights on outer islands and reefs where titi, toroa, puhia and mihia occur. Wild life and Conservation Act . .•• By denial of access to outer islands and reefs. 9 Section 3 3. Scope of the research and report structure 3.1 A judicial conference of the first three claimant parties mentioned in section I, Crown representatives and Tribunal staff, was convened by the Waitangi Tribunal on 6 July 1990. Chief Judge Peter Trapski (ret). was appointed under section 8 of the Treaty of Waitangi Act to facilitate. 3.2 The purpose of the conference was to determine how the Tribunal might best deal with the Chatham Islands claims.