THE CROWN, THE TREATY, AND THE HAURAKI TRIBES, 1880-1980
address their grievances while still making land available for settlement. Ward argues that this policy grew from principles which Bryce had been developing since 188o: representation of the interests of the small settlers rather than of the rich speculators, and disenchantment with direct private purchase which favoured speculation because of the complexities created by the Native Land Act 1873.12 Ballance, on coming to office, continued in this policy of preventing the 'land monopoly for the few'. The Native Land Court Act consolidated previous legislation, simplifying the division of land, but the more significant measure, at least potentially, was the Native Lands Administration Act 1886. Ballance contemplated a system in which the Crown sold or leased blocks as an agent for Maori, and in which a tribal role in the management and disposition of lands was preserved by the incorporation of owners of a block as one legal entity which would then appoint a 'block committee' with executive powers. Direct purchase by settlers was prohibited. Instead block committees would decide on the terms of alienation, placing their lands with District Commissioners for auction. The role of the Native Committee in that structure was two-fold. It would receive notice of all blocks intended to go through the Native Land Court for survey so that there would be no more secret dealings, and would ascertain who were the owners of the block preparatory to the selection of the individual block committee."
The measure failed, however, to address Maori suspicion of any scheme which deposited lands into the keeping of Government officials, and fell short of their expectation that the mana of the land would be returned to them. Encouraged in their fears by speculators and free traders, Maori were reluctant to vest authority in block committees and refused to hand over land to the District Commissioners for ultimate disposal.14 In any case, the tolerance of Parliament to any trend towards slowing the pace of transfer of lands was short-lived and the Atkinson Ministry restored the system of direct purchase in 1888, representing the step as fulfilling a Maori wish to dispose of their lands as they saw fit, subject only to protections against fraudulent transactions. Ward points out, however, that the Native Land Act 1888, was opposed by much of Maori leadership, and that its `rapacious character' was revealed in the relaxation of restrictions on alienation. The Maori demand for an end to the encroachments of the Native Land Court, and for a means by which lands could be restored to tribal control so that individual owners could not sell their community inheritance on the open market remained unsatisfied, and was to form a major thrust within kotahitanga policies in the following decade."
(b) Public works: friction at 1880
Grievances other than the operation of the land court also surfaced in the discussions between the Hauraki people and Ballance in 1885. The question of Maori rights in relation to the 'public good', at issue from the very early years of settlement, became
12 A. Ward, Wai 48 and others: Whanganui ki Maniapoto Land Claims. Preliminary Historical Report to the Waitangi Tribunal', 1992, p. 63.
13 See Ballance in 'Notes of Native Meetings', AJHR, 1885, G-1, p. 31. Doc. 3,p.8.
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