My name is David James Alexander. I am an environmental and planning consultant based in Christchurch. I have a B.A. (Hons) degree in Geography and a M.Sc. degree in Conservation, and am a Member of the New Zealand Planning Institute.
For twelve years (1975-1987) I was a planner with the Department of Lands and Survey, closely involved in land title and land use issues. With the restructuring of that Department, I became a planner with the Department of Conservation, before then setting up my own consultancy. While a full-time employee of the Crown, I worked in Canterbury and Taranaki.
During the last nine years I have researched and presented evidence to the Waitangi Tribunal relating to land titles history and associated matters concerning the Ngai Tahu, Pouakani, Ngati Rangiteaorere, Te Roroa, Mohaka River, Te Ika Whenua, Turangi Township (Ngati Turangitukua), Ngati Makino and Ngati Pahauwera claims.
This report is one of a series of four reports on the lands of the Hauraki tribes. It examines in particular the various dealings that the Crown had with the blocks. Where the Crown purchased a block at an early stage, the history is fairly straightforward. Where, however, the Crown purchased a block at a later stage, or only purchased part of a block, there are aspects of the block's history which are not included or are only summarised, in order to maintain the focus on the Crown's actions.
At a late stage in the research, the Hauraki Maori Trust Board, which initially commissioned the work, received funding from the Waitangi Tribunal to expand the original brief and include purchases by the Crown in the zoth Century, and purchases by private individuals. This additional research has been incorporated in the reports, in a reasonably comprehensive way with respect to Crown purchases, and to a lesser extent with respect to private purchases.
A consequence of the principal focus of the research, and the time and level of funding available, is that some blocks have not been researched at all (7% of total area), or are covered at only a very superficial level. These tend to be smaller blocks in more closely settled areas, which were often subject to purchase by private individuals.
The intention of this report has been to provide a history of the various dealings with the block, rather than a history of those persons, their successors and their families, who were appointed as owners of the blocks. The subject of the research has been the land rather than the people.
In preparing this report Government and Maori Land Court sources were relied upon. Hauraki tribal sources were not used, on the basis that the people are better able to present their history direct to the Waitangi Tribunal themselves.
For convenience in presenting the research, the Hauraki tribal territory has been split into eleven districts which are contained in the four parts to this volume. The boundaries of these districts are arbitrary ones based on geography rather than on iwi or hapu territorial boundaries (see Hauraki Region Districts map). No significance should be read into the district boundaries that have been used.
