THE CROWN, THE TREATY, AND THE HAURAKI TRIBES, 1880–1980

Government had managed to purchase over 330,000 acres in the district while holding debts against another 200,000 acres.1 Thus, by 1885, most of the peninsula, gulf islands and blocks on the western shore of the firth had been acquired for the economic advantage of European settlers and speculators, while Maori ability to retain their last large tract of territory—the delta lands of the Waihou and Piako Rivers—was already seriously compromised by old raihana debts.

Over the next three decades the promises of Maori prosperity and 'partnership' in the development of the colony were shown to be a sham. By 1910 most of the damage had been done, and the place of Hauraki had been set at the bottom rung of the socioeconomic order. Negotiation and concession on public works had been shown to be backed by the 'force of law' while the willingness of the Government and public bodies to employ Maori on such projects also proved remarkably short-lived. The mineral and timber assets of lands, the freehold of which was leased but retained by Maori, had been largely exhausted, even by the 1880s, while sales of Ohinemuri and Te Ipu o Moehau prevented Maori from any ongoing participation in the economic benefits of the new mining ventures made possible by further exploration and technological innovation.

An already severely attenuated land base was reduced further; in the 1880s by Crown purchases of A subdivisions of lands initially held back from the large-scale alienations of Ohinemuri, Waikawau, and Moehau; and increasingly, in the 1890s, by Government-endorsed sale of reserves, often to the Crown itself; as earlier official concerns over the rapidity of Hauraki's land loss were seemingly forgotten and legislators undermined the protections placed on the title. These purchases of much of the remaining Maori land in the gold field district were followed in the late 189os, and the 1900s, by the Government's acquisition of the idle 'wastelands' comprising the Hauraki floodplain. The land was quickly stripped of its kahikatea, drained and brought into farm production and close settlement. Thus, by the end of 1912, Hauraki were left with only 171,000 acres, and much of this was on poor soil, degraded by public works, or in blocks too small and undeveloped to provide adequately for the needs of the iwi at that time, let alone an economic resurgence in subsequent years.

The Crown took few steps to give effect to the ideals of partnership and prosperity once Maori had opened their lands to economic exploitation and settlement. To the contrary, with few exceptions, administrations sought to acquire the most valuable of the areas left in Maori ownership, often in response to pressure from local bodies and politicians from whose ranks Maori were excluded. Advocates of the individualisation of native title had made much of the supposed benefits of greater security of tenure and enhanced commercial value of land held under Crown grant, but in fact, Maori owners continued to have restricted access to capital, and were denied the sorts of economic assistance which the Government extended to their Pakeha counterparts. James Carroll noted in 1891, for example, that the Government inhibited Maori progress in farming by excluding them from eligibility for financial assistance to become 'useful settlers'; and by taking on semi-

1 See Lands Purchased and Leased from Natives in the North Island. AJHR 1884, C–2, pp. 5–7.

2