in the Te Aroha Domain, there has been little participation by Ngati Rahiri Tumutumu or recognition of their values and traditions.

The continuity of tikanga Maori has been lost at Te Aroha. The old names of the springs have gone. Only the name of Te Mokena Hou remains, and that because he and his whanau were awarded the particular piece of land surrounding the Te Aroha hot springs reserve. Other Ngati Rahiri Tumutumu whanau were allocated other pieces of land, most of which were later alienated as they lost collective control of their traditional resource. This occurred through the process of individualisation of title in the Omahu reserve, and because the Crown chose to retain section 16, the hot springs reserve, as a public reserve. Because the Mokena whanau were able to acquire title to the surrounding sections 15 and 17, no doubt aided and abetted by George Lipsey, son-in-law of Te Mokena Hou, this one whanau stood to benefit most from the location of Te Aroha township on their lands. There is no documentation of any discussion about how sections in the Omahu Reserve were allocated.

In legal terms, Te Mokena Hou did not ‘give’ the hot springs reserve to the Crown, because this area in section 16 had already been transferred to the Crown in the Te Aroha block purchase. Crown policy on geothermal areas in the 1870s indicates a firm intention to acquire and retain Crown control of Te Aroha hot springs, as well as all springs used for medicinal and therapeutic purposes. In 1865, the Government established the New Zealand Geological Survey, directed by James Hector, who included the analysis of mineral waters in the work of his scientists which appeared in various published reports.⁷⁸ In 1867, the Government funded the New Zealand Institute, which also published reports in its annual Transactions. There was through the 1870s a strong public interest in mineral springs, hot and cold, and an equally strong demand that where these still remained in Maori hands they should be made accessible to the public. In 1880, an agreement was reached with Ngati Whakaue leaders at Rotorua to ensure public access and Government control of the geothermal areas. In the same year, the Te Aroha goldfield was proclaimed, which resulted in Crown control over Maori lands on Te Aroha mountain, Te Aroha township, and the hot springs. In 1881, the Thermal Springs Districts Act was passed, which empowered Government to exert control over geothermal areas. Te Aroha was never proclaimed a district under this Act because it was already Crown land, gazetted as public recreation ground, and was gazetted again in 1882 under the Public Domains Act 1881 to preserve it for public use. We accept, therefore, that Mapuna Turner’s account of Ngati Rahiri Tumutumu oral tradition that the hot springs land was ‘taken’ by the Crown has some force.

Many Ngati Rahiri Tumutumu would have wanted to retain their traditional association with the hot springs. There is no documentation of any agreement between local Maori and the Crown specifying conditions for free and continuing Maori use of the hot springs, but there is good evidence that they had expected to do so as early as 1885. It is quite possible

78.See W FOX, ‘Hot Springs District of the North Island’, 1 August 1874, AJHR, 1874, H-26