► When the State eventually sought to assist Maori farming through the Maori land development schemes from 1930 to 1970 there was very little suitable Hauraki land still in Maori ownership on which viable farms could be created.

The claimants have submitted that prejudicial effects arose from the law relating to succession to Maori land. We have examined the relevant law and practice from 1865 to 1993. The provision that, on intestate succession, the land is divided among all natural heirs has been blamed for the fractionation of Maori land titles. We find, nevertheless, that this succession principle was generally in conformity with Maori wishes: it was the passing of land outside the bloodline by means of written wills that caused most dissatisfaction and injured some whanau. The problem with intestate succession lay rather in the nature of land titles and the alienability of individual interests, rather than the succession rule as such. The question has been addressed in the Te Ture Whenua Maori Act 1993.

ES.8 Te Aroha Mountain, the Hot Springs, and the Township

The Crown acquired the Te Aroha block, including the western side of the mountain and the hot springs at its base, by purchase in 1878. The eastern portion lay inside the Tauranga confiscation line and was acquired by the Crown in 1864. Te Aroha mountain nevertheless remained a maunga tapu in the minds of Ngati Rahiri Tumutumu and Hauraki people generally. Yet, they have had little participation in its management or the management of the hot springs in Te Aroha Domain.

Despite some oral traditions to the contrary, the Ngati Rahiri Tumutumu rangatira Te Mokena Hou and his whanau did not, in legal terms, ‘give’ to the Crown the hot springs reserve in section 16 of the Te Aroha purchase (while retaining sections 15 and 17 where the township was built). Rather, Crown control of the springs was asserted through the Te Aroha purchase, the proclamation of the Te Aroha goldfield in 1880, and the Public Domains Act 1881, under which the reserve was gazetted. We accept therefore that another Ngati Rahiri Tumutumu oral tradition that the springs were ‘taken by the Crown has some validity. In general, we find that the Crown has failed to protect the traditional values and kaitiakitanga of the tribe in Te Aroha mountain and hot springs.

Similarly, although no specific documentation has been provided of any agreement between local Maori and the Crown for continued free use of the springs by Maori, there is documentary evidence from as early as 1885 that this was their understanding.

The claimants have been critical of the Crown for purchasing most of the interests of the Mokena Hou and Lipsey families in Te Aroha township in the early twentieth century. We note, however, that those families had previously benefited significantly, relative to other Ngati Rahiri Tumutumu whanau, from their cooperation with the Crown in development