The Crown’s title to land at Bowentown derives from the confiscation of the Tauranga district in 1865, and the subsequent purchase of the Katikati and Te Puna blocks by Crown agents. Legal recognition of Maori ownership of Otawhiwhi also derives from the Katikati Te Puna purchase (see figure 3). It is not the intention of this report to provide an historical account of the circumstances surrounding the purchase, and readers requiring further detail should consult reports which have been prepared for the Wai 215 inquiry, such as Evelyn Stokes, Te Raupatu O Tauranga Moana: The Confiscation of Tauranga Lands, and Hazel Riseborough, ‘The Crown and Tauranga Moana’.16
The entire Tauranga district (approximately 290,000 acres17), from Nga Kuri a Wharei to Wairakei, was initially confiscated under the New Zealand Settlements Act 1863 on 18 May 1865.18 During peace negotiations held between Governor Grey and some Tauranga chiefs Grey promised that only one quarter of the confiscated lands would be retained by the Crown, and the remaining three-quarters would be returned to Maori ownership. However, out of the three-quarters returned, the Crown immediately arranged to purchase a substantial area north of the Te Puna Stream, amounting to 93,188 acres.19 This area has become known as the Katikati Te Puna purchase.
The purchase was achieved by a series of deeds signed by various groups of Maori. Initially the purchase was made from only eight Ngaiterangi chiefs, as described by Professor Keith Sorrenson:
late in August a party of chiefs visited Auckland to urge Grey to return their land. After discussions they returned home prepared to sell the Katikati Te Puna block to the Government. Clarke wasted no time in making a deal with these chiefs. On 26 August he paid them £1000 for the land. Only eight chiefs of the Ngaiterangi tribe signed this agreement - Enoka, Hohepa, Parere, Turere, Tomika, Reeia, Hamiora Tu and Tamati Hawao. Some of them had not been engaged in the fighting and had little claim to the block. This could not be considered a complete or valid purchase. Important Ngaiterangi chiefs including Tupaea, were not included; and other tribes who had claims to the block were completely ignored. The purchase created a great deal of dissatisfaction among left out claimants…20
As a result of protests and petitions by other Maori with claims to the blocks, Civil Commissioners James Mackay Jr and Henry Clarke held a series of arbitrations on the
16 Evelyn Stokes, Te Raupatu o Tauranga Moana: The Confiscation of Tauranga Lands, University of Waikato, 1990 (Wai 215, A2), Hazel Riseborough, ‘The Crown and Tauranga Moana’, Crown Forestry Rental Trust, 1994, (Wai 215, A23). The summary of the purchase provided in this report largely follows Rachael Willan, ‘Katikati Railway Station Report’, Waitangi Tribunal, 1996, pp 9-12.
17 ‘Report of the Royal commission on Confiscated lands and other Grievances’, Appendices to the Journals of the House of Representatives (AJHR), 1928, G-7, p 19
18New Zealand Gazette, 1865, p 187
19 Vincent O’Malley, ‘The Aftermath of the Tauranga Raupatu’, An overview report commissioned by the Crown Forestry Rental Trust, 1995 (Wai 215, A22), p 5
20 M.P.K. Sorrenson, ‘Tauranga Confiscation: Submission to Select Committee on Maori Affairs’, 4 September 1978, reproduced in the Raupatu Document Bank, vol 139, pp 53355-53356
