36.8     the Governor promised to confiscate only one-quarter of Tauranga lands;

36.9     in fact, the Crown only confiscated approximately 15% of those lands;

36.10    those who had lands confiscated inside the “50,000” acre block were compensated with lands elsewhere in the Tauranga district.

Te Puna Katikati purchase

37.       The two principal claims about the Te Puna Katikati purchase are that it was effected under duress from the Crown and that the Crown failed to establish, or to deal with, the true owners of the blocks. The Crown will show that neither of these allegations withstand an objective analysis of the available evidence.

The duty to ensure a fair and effectual transfer of ownership

38.       Also relevant to the Tribunal’s Stage One inquiry is the Crown’s duty to ensure that the transfer of ownership from Maori to settler via Crown pre-emption occurred fairly and effectually. The principal inquiry here relates to the determination of title to the ‘returned lands’ by the Tauranga Land Commissioners and the issue of alienation restrictions on those lands.

39.       In these respects, the framework for the inquiry should not be the calculation of how much land was ‘taken’ or ‘lost’ by way of sale. Rather, the inquiry should focus on the Crown’s superintendence of these dealings and the agency of Maori in exercising their rights to make commercial decisions about their property.

40.       More particularly, the return of land the by the Commissioners occurred at a pivotal time in the country’s history of land tenure. Elsewhere in New Zealand the newly established Native Land Court had just opened doors. Maori wanted the legal ability to deal with their lands as they