THE CROWN, THE TREATY, AND THE HAURAKI TRIBES, 1800-1885

Chapter 5: Conclusion

By 1885 an estimated total by cadastral digitalization of at least 952,615 acres of land in the Hauraki rohe had transferred from Maori into the hands of the Crown or settlers. No single policy or practice of the Crown can be identified as bearing sole responsibility for that course of events. For the Hauraki people, land loss resulted from an accumulation of their experience of dealing with Crown agents on whom they were often dependent for advice but whose primary goal was to acquire cheap lands, with colonial power structures from which they were excluded, and with the institutions that had been created for them without consultation as to their wishes. Their experience spanned the years of divergence in world views that underlay the confusion in the early transactions, and the shortcomings of the old land claims investigations, to the years of complete domination of European concepts of title and the nature of the law, by the last quarter of the century.

In the intervening years the Hauraki land and resource base continued to dwindle. Crown purchases of land between 1840 and 1865 were at first characterised by ignorance of the nature of tenure, and then as the difficulties inherent in the acknowledgment of native ownership were revealed, by the efforts of Crown agents to circumvent 'delay' by reinterpreting native tenure to exclude the right of tribal veto. In these years not only did much of the land around the northern harbours and waterways transfer into the hands of the Crown, but the groundwork was laid for further tampering with tenure and the undermining of the tribal entity in favour of the individual right. At the same time, private parties were able to acquire much of the timber resource of the WhangapouaMercury Bay area with the encouragement of Crown officers, even though such arrangements were supposed to be illegal. The impact on local Hauraki communities to the north was almost total in these years, and completed by the rapid loss of surrounding lands, as the Crown took the first steps towards converting tribal rights into transferable paper by setting up of the Native Land Court, and as purchase was opened up to private parties without considering the need for commensurate protective measures. It is argued, drawing particularly on the notorious Te Aroha case, that the processes and decisions of the court exacerbated tensions within Maori society, while at the same time, entrapping right-holders into debts which could be met only by the sale of land and resources. In the meantime, Hauraki's zone of influence had been severely clipped to the south-east and to the west of the Firth of Thames by confiscations, seen as punishment for the Tauranga and Waikato tribes, but which were also aimed at 'rebels' within the ranks of Ngati Paoa and Ngati Tamatera, and intended to secure Government control of the general district.

When the Crown re-engaged in land purchase operations in the early 1870s, its officers exploited the opportunities presented by the way the court issued title to effect purchases, buying from the ten grantees in the first years of its operation, and leading the way in advancing payments to every 'rag, tag, and bobtail' once it began entering all right-holders onto the title. And, as elsewhere in the country, Maori at Hauraki were caught up in the costs of defending claims, attending hearings, court fees, and survey. The reworking of native title towards individualised tenure set the stage for the Crown's first

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