respect requires the Crown to engage, to debate and to test the various concerns raised by the claimants. The presentation of Crown evidence is an important part of the process of active engagement between Treaty partners.

6.        It is a legitimate and important aspect of the Crown’s role before the Tribunal to focus on the issue of historical interpretation. As is well known, the Crown appears before the Tribunal as representative of the public interest. There is a legitimate public interest in the integrity of the Tribunal’s inquiry process. There is also a public interest in the durability of historical explanation. There must be a solid foundation for the settlement of historical grievances. That foundation must be capable of withstanding the historical analysis to which the claims process will inevitably be subject.

SCOPE OF THE EVIDENCE

7.        The Tribunal convened to hear the Wai 215 Tauranga Moana Claims has divided its inquiry into two stages: Stage One (Raupatu) Issues and Stage Two (Post-Raupatu) Issues.

8.        For the purpose of the Stage One inquiry, the Tribunal defined ‘raupatu’ to:

[…] refer to all the land confiscated under the New Zealand Settlements Act 1863 and associated legislation, and actions by the Crown to implement that legislation. Principally, this will include such events as Crown intervention in Tauranga Moana, the Battles of Pukehinahina (Gate Pa) and Te Ranga, the Pacification Hui, the Katikati-Te Puna Purchase, and the ‘Bush Campaign’. As part of a report on raupatu in Tauranga, the Tribunal will also report on the return of lands by the Commissioners of Tauranga Lands. […]

The ‘Tauranga Moana Raupatu Report’ will also, present the Tribunal’s account of the events leading up to the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi and Crown-Maori relations in Tauranga from 1840 to 1864. This will include the CMS purchase of Te Papa.”

(Tribunal Direction dated 17 August 2000 Wai 215 #2.288)