1.2 The Claimants

1.2.1 The HMTB

The HMTB was constituted by an Act of Parliament in December 1988 as a body corporate under the terms and for the purposes of the Maori Trust Boards Act 1955. Section 4(2) of the Hauraki Maori Trust Board Act 1988 states:

The beneficiaries of the Board shall be the descendants of Ngati Hako, Ngati Hei, Ngati Maru, Ngati Paoa, Patukirikiri, Ngati Porou ki Harataunga ki Mataora, Ngati Pukenga ki Waiau, Ngati Rahiri-Tumutumu, Ngai Tai, Ngati Tamatera, Ngati Tara Tokanui, and Ngati Whanaunga.

In 1998, 3600 Hauraki Maori were registered as beneficiaries of the HMTB, out of 6995 Maori nationwide who identified as being of Hauraki descent.¹ In the Act, provision was made for the establishment of a management board representing the 12 groups, a roll of adult beneficiaries, and an annual hui.

In April 1987, a set of claims were lodged with the Waitangi Tribunal on behalf of the incipient trust board in the name of Huhurere Tukukino (now deceased). These were registered as Wai 100 (incorporating also Wai 373, Wai 374, and Wai 650). Extensive research was commissioned for the associated casebook, which ran to 11 volumes in length, plus over 40,000 pages of associated supporting documents.² We support the description of this valuable body of evidence given by HMTB member and tribal leader Toko Renata Te Taniwha, as ‘a legacy to our children and the Hauraki tribal nation.’³

Counsel for Wai 100 described the Wai 100 and associated claims as presented:

on behalf of all the tribes of Hauraki in respect of all the lands and resources of those tribes, covering all of the Treaty breaches perpetrated by the Crown against them. It is one of the largest and most complex claims yet to be heard by a Waitangi Tribunal. It covers territory which is familiar to the Tribunal - old land claims; raupatu and the like. And it covers issues that are either complete[ly] novel or have not been comprehensively dealt with by the Tribunal in the past. Foremost among these is the Crown treatment of Maori rights in Hauraki mineral resources, for they are in many ways the linch pin of this claim.⁴

The Wai 100 claimants say that Hauraki Maori are left with 2.6 per cent, or 38,500 acres, of their original land area, which they say runs from Matakana in the south to Mahurangi

1. Document A74, para 30. The board expected the number of beneficiaries to grow following the Tribunal’s inquiry.

2. Document A52, p 7

3. Document A5, p vi

4. Document A51, p 1