THE CROWN, THE TREATY, AND THE HAURAKI TRIBES, 1800–1885
rights in the East Wairoa, Central Waikato, and Tauranga takings. That Hauraki rights in these areas should be declared forfeit seems all the more unjust because the majority of Hauraki people maintained a position of neutrality during the fighting at both Waikato and Tauranga.
The Compensation Court
[pp. 122–127] There was only the most limited opportunity for Hauraki to regain their former lands. Neutrals within the Hauraki tribes were placed in a position of accepting the Compensation Court's monetary awards at East Wairoa, compulsory sale at Tauranga where the Government made it clear that the Te Puna lands were 'absolutely required' but that they 'should be paid for', and out of court payments for Pukorokoro, and other interests in the Central Waikato raupatu since they could not afford to attend the hearings. 'Rebel' hapu lost out almost entirely—not only lands within the confiscation boundaries, but adjacent areas also, as the Native Land Court quickly followed up on a promise by the Compensation Court, that rebel lands north of the East Wairoa line, would be given to 'loyal' sections of Ngati Paoa and Ngai Tai.
The return of reserves,1865–1900
[pp. 129–134] Limited reserves were finally returned to 'rebel' Hauraki hapu in the 1890s, after a 30 year struggle which reflected the change wrought in their circumstances by the Crown's actions, from an independent people exercising traditional rights in these lands, to petitioners dependent on the goodwill of the Crown for the return of a small portion of them.
Chapter Three: Extension of Government Control over Gold Field Lands, 1865–1870
The adjustment of the Coromandel Agreement, 1865
[pp. 135–143] Government interest in acquiring control of the gold resources of the Hauraki district remained high in the 1860s. Immediately after the war, the Crown reopened the question of the Hauraki gold field, acknowledging the terms of former treaties, but also looking upon them as open to negotiation rather than as strictly binding. Certainly, there seems to have been little of the spirit of mutual advancement in the Government's bargaining down of right-holders at Coromandel to the minimum that they would accept. But from the point of view of many of those based on the Thames coast, after the experience of visible bombardment of nearby communities and the blockade, and in view of apparent opportunities for economic advancement, the best stratagem was to seize what advantages were on offer. In 1867–1868, the Crown managed to arrange the opening of the Thames field, long held closed by Ngati Maru, and followed up with mining agreements for Kennedy Bay with Ngati Porou, with Te Tawera and Ngati Maru at Manaia, and with Ngati Hei and Ngati Pare at Whangapoua.
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