in the town outside this area had not and no freehold titles could therefore be granted until they were proclaimed as public roads:

When the township was originally laid out it was anticipated that extensive gold-mining operations would be carried on in the vicinity, but these anticipations have not been realised. The progress of the township was undoubtedly due mainly to the tourist traffic resultant from the proximity of the hot springs, in the development of which a sum of approximately £12,000 has been expended by the Crown. The settlement of the surrounding country, has, however, latterly contributed largely towards enhancing the value of the town property. The whole of Te Aroha town sections are at present held on residential-site and business-site licenses under the Mining Act, for various terms and at rentals ranging from 5s. per annum to £3 per annum.²⁶

The commission recommended that no further mining tenures be issued in Te Aroha, as these were not suitable for the development of a town where there was no likely prospect of gold mining in payable amounts, and strongly recommended allowing leaseholders to purchase the freehold of their properties. The Te Aroha Crown Leases Act 1920 set out provisions for any holder of a residence or business site license in the town to acquire the freehold and the basis for assessing a valuation of such properties, while reserving all mineral rights to the Crown.

In 1881, the hot springs reserve of 20 acres had been gazetted as a recreation ground under section 44 of the Land Act, and the following year gazetted under the Public Domains Act 1881.²⁷ Some of the pressure on Government to develop the amenities of the hot springs reserve had come from George O’Halloran, the former storekeeper at Omahu, who by 1880 had acquired Mokena’s Hot Springs Hotel, put in a road to the springs and a ferry across the Waihou River. A domain board of five members, including George Lipsey, was appointed. In 1886, negotiations began to purchase from the Mokena family another 46 acres to be added to Te Aroha Domain. George Lipsey was directly involved in achieving this purchase, completed in 1894. We examine this transaction in more detail later. The domain was administered by the Hot Springs Domain Board through the 1880s and George Lipsey remained a member until 1892. In 1893, Te Aroha Town Board took over the role of the domain board.²⁸ In 1903, the recently created Department of Tourist and Health Resorts took over the administration of the Te Aroha spa facilities in the domain, which was now a

26.Albert Bruce, ‘Report’, 31 August 1914, AJHR, 1914, c-3, p6

27.‘Lands Temporarily Reserved in the Land Districts of Auckland, Hawke’s Bay, Canterbury, Otago, and Southland’, 5 April 1881, New Zealand Gazette 1881, no 25, p 393; ‘Te Aroha Hot Springs Recreation-ground Brought under “The Public Domains Act 1881”’ 12 December 1882, New Zealand Gazette, 1882, no 107, p 186o

28.‘Power Delegated to the Te Aroha Domain Board under “The Public Domains Act, 1881”’, 31 August 1881, New Zealand Gazette 1893, no 66, pp 1297-1298