1.3 Concluding comments

This chapter has summarised the purchase of the Katikati-Te Puna block. It has noted the transaction’s ambiguous character, suggesting that although the purchase was depicted as a solution to the long-standing customary conflict in the area, in reality it was closer to being a de facto confiscation. The transaction was, at times, conducted in a confusing manner. Certainly, official guidance for officers in the field was not forthcoming and often procedure tended to be shaped by political contingencies or the agendas of individuals, rather than by formal policy or according to equity and good faith. Therefore it is not surprising that Maori were confused and wary about the purchase and what it entailed. As we will see in the following chapter, an ambiguous and ad hoc approach, based on the political interests of the Crown, characterised the allocation of reserve in the purchase area as well.

⁵³ Pirirakau Claims Committee, ‘The Te Puna Reserves and Lands Returned: Three Cases of Injustice Arising out of the Allocation Process’, Addendum to the Pirirakau Report, April 1998, p. 20.