officials under the Massey, National and Coates administrations (1912–1928) persisted in the belief that Maori land should be available for purchase as required. The priorities of the Public Works Department, of local government bodies, and of the Pakeha populace still tended to take precedence over consideration of Maori needs in the application of policy. The Crown continued to have occasional recourse to public works powers in the Hauraki Plains district, but a variety of objects lay behind the label of 'facilitation of drainage' for which blocks were supposedly acquired in these years: tidy boundaries, better road access, compensation of Pakeha farmers for takings on their land, convenient sites for department workshops. Those goals might take priority even if these areas comprised some of the last papakainga lands held by the owners in question. In other general acquisitions, the Crown was once again greatly assisted by its ability to prohibit private dealing (under section 363, Native Land Act 1909), and thus, to control the conditions of negotiation while its officers purchased individual interests over a protracted period if the majority of the owners called together at a block meeting had refused to sell at the Government's price.
Chapter HI: Reserves and Removal of Restrictions on Alienation, 1880–1909
Much of the impact of enactment of land law was experienced in the context of reserved lands. If, on the one hand, the trend of Government was to speed up the availability of land to the small settler, partly by means of enacting special purchase powers for the Crown, the other was towards easing restrictions which had been placed on the title of reserved lands. Government legislation with regard to reserves, and the impact of policy on Hauraki 'inalienable' land holdings from 1880–1910 is discussed in this chapter.
The putting aside of reserved lands in Hauraki is briefly discussed. The concept of reserves was developed in an ad hoc way. When officials spoke of 'reserves' they might be referring to one of three different situations. Often, lands which had been held back from a larger sale were seen by officials as having been 'reserved', even though the disposal remained entirely in the hands of Maori. Although such lands had no protection, they were often considered to provide adequately for Maori requirements—and to prove that purchase operations could continue unabated in the district. Sometimes, Maori and Government negotiators arranged for 'reserves' to be created out of a Crown purchase of a block. The whole of the block transferred to the Crown which might hold a portion of that land (generally 10%) in trust for the vendors. These lands were eventually brought under the management of the Public Trustee. Few areas, however, were vested in the Crown in trust for Maori in the Hauraki district. More frequently, 'reserves' were granted back to the owners but with restrictions against alienation placed on the title by the Native Land Court. The Court might also place a restriction on the alienation of a block at the time of award at the request of the grantees even though no sale was involved.
One side of the coin of Government policy was the setting aside of 'reserved lands'; the other was the withdrawal of protections from those blocks to enable their alienation. The
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