Wai 2180, #A56 The Arrest of Winiata Te Whaaro and the Eviction of the Pokopoko Community A Report Commissioned by the Waitangi Tribunal for the Taihape Inquiry District (Wai 2180) Jane Luiten August 2017 Table of Contents Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1 Chapter 1 Background Context............................................................................................. 9 Winiata Te Whaaro and the Pokopoko Community ......................................................................... 11 The Studholmes ................................................................................................................................ 15 The Donnellys ................................................................................................................................... 30 The Role of the Runholder: Civil proceedings ................................................................................. 34 The Role of the Sheriff ..................................................................................................................... 40 The Sheriff of Whanganui, Andrew Thomson .................................................................................. 45 The Role of the Police ....................................................................................................................... 48 Sergeant John Cullen ........................................................................................................................ 52 The Role of the Crown ...................................................................................................................... 55 Chapter 2 The Arrest and Eviction ..................................................................................... 57 John Studholme Jnr v. Winiata Te Whaaro and others ..................................................................... 59 April 1897: Sheriff Thomson’s attempt to execute the writ of sale and possession ......................... 66 The Writ of Attachment .................................................................................................................... 70 Executing the Writ of Attachment .................................................................................................... 82 Executing the Writ of Sale and Possession ....................................................................................... 86 Reflections on the Civil Proceedings ................................................................................................ 98 Chapter 3 Eviction case studies: Crown policy and practice .......................................... 103 Te Aomarama, 1879 ........................................................................................................................ 104 Maungatautari, 1884 ....................................................................................................................... 109 Horowhenua, 1889; 1901 ................................................................................................................ 117 Little Barrier Island / Hauturu, 1896 ............................................................................................... 123 Pouwhakarua, 1899 ......................................................................................................................... 129 Mimitu-Ruarei, 1914 ....................................................................................................................... 135 Critiquing Crown non-intervention ................................................................................................. 137 Chapter 4 Impacts .............................................................................................................. 140 Mangaone / Winiata ........................................................................................................................ 141 A Second Eviction .......................................................................................................................... 143 Landlessness ................................................................................................................................... 147 Awarua 4C15 .................................................................................................................................. 150 Marginalisation ............................................................................................................................... 159 Chapter 5 A Question of Law ............................................................................................ 165 Bibliography ......................................................................................................................... 172 Table of Figures Figure 1: Mokai Patea, showing Winiata Te Whaaro’s kainga of Pokopoko and Mangaone ................ 8 Figure 2: Winiata and Peeti Te Whaaro ................................................................................................ 10 Figure 3: Studholme's notebook sketch of Mangaohane, showing ‘Winiata’s homestead’ .................. 13 Figure 4: John Studholme Snr ............................................................................................................... 16 Figure 5: Airini Tonore nee Karauria, circa 1870-1880 ....................................................................... 31 Figure 6: Andrew D Thomson, circa 1897 ........................................................................................... 45 Figure 7: John Cullen, circa 1916 ......................................................................................................... 53 Figure 8: Mangaohane title, 1895. ........................................................................................................ 61 Figure 9: Copy of plan attached to the writ of sale and possession, April 1897 ................................... 66 Figure 10: Early days at Winiata......................................................................................................... 142 Figure 11: Awarua 4C15, 1896 partition ............................................................................................ 151 Figure 12: Te Whaaro/Tanguru partition Awarua 4C15F, August 1904 ............................................ 154 Figure 13: Te Whaaro partition, Awarua 4C15F1, August 1904 ........................................................ 155 Figure 14: Te Whaaro partition, Awarua 4C15F1A-H, April 1921 .................................................... 157 Figure 15: ‘Earliest Taihape School Group about 1897’ .................................................................... 160 Figure 16: Taihape School children, 1905 .......................................................................................... 161 Glossary of legal terms Civil law – a body of law governing disputes between individuals, as opposed to those governing offences that are public and relate to the government. Civil action/proceedings – cases brought to court by private individuals or organisations to settle disputes or gain redress for the infringement of rights. Criminal law – a body of rules and statutes that defines conduct prohibited by the government because it threatens and harms public safety and welfare, and that establishes punishments to be imposed for the commission of such acts. Criminal action/proceedings – cases brought to court by the state or government to maintain law and order and to protect society. Common law – ancient law of England based on custom as recognised and enforced by judgments and decrees of the courts, embodied in case law rather than legislative enactments. Contempt of court – or simply ‘contempt’, the offence of being disobedient or disrespectful towards a court of law and its officers; one example of which is wilfully failing to obey a court order. Ejectment – a nineteenth-century common law term for civil action to recover the possession of land, now obsolete. Eviction – the action of expelling someone from a property, a more common term today for ejectment, but more precisely in historical context the removal of a tenant from rental property by the landlord, or the removal of persons from premises which have been foreclosed by a mortgagee. Forcible entry – the crime of taking possession of real property by the use of physical force or serious threats against the occupants. Mesne profits – pronounced ‘mean’, profits which have been made by the occupier of land in wrongful possession. Posse comitatus – ‘powers of the county’, the power and duty of the sheriff, in cases where resistance to civil process was met, to raise and arm persons to help him enforce the law. Poundage – a commission levied by the sheriff on money realised from writs of execution. In England the sheriff was entitled to poundage as remuneration for his services. In New Zealand poundage was paid instead to the government. Sheriff Fees – regulated charges for the processes involved in the execution of civil writs, including mileage. Sheriff – the officer of the Supreme Court charged to execute civil writs of execution. Writ of summons – a writ by which an action was begun in the Supreme Court, a legal document ordering a person to appear in court to answer a complaint at a specified date, or respond in writing to the court. Writ of execution – in common law, a formal written order issued by the Court to a specified person to undertake a specified