Grants, I consulted the Natives as to what they wished – whether they wished to have any restrictions placed on them or have them free. Most of them, I believe, had already been dealt with, if the truth be told, because I believe this request for Crown Grants emanated more from the settlers than the Natives themselves. Upon this application I consulted them with regard to this and restrictions were placed on plots that they desired to be restricted’.³⁷

Had the reserves been awarded under the Native Lands Act 1866 they would have, in theory, been protected by the clause that restricted alienations to leases no longer than 21 years. However, the Native Lands Act 1866 is not referred to in any of the surviving documents. It suggests that the reserves set aside in the Katikati-Te Puna purchase area were not conceived as conventional reserves, and this is confirmed when Crown grants are examined.

Data contained in the second volume of this report shows that the majority of the reserves were granted under the New Zealand Settlements Act 1863 and the New Zealand Settlements Amendment and Continuation Act 1865. Therefore the reserves were compensation and suggests that the purchased area operated as a de facto confiscated area.

2.3 Concluding comments

Like the purchase of the block itself, it is difficult for the historian to uncover the precise procedure employed by government officers to allocate reserves in the Katikati-Te Puna purchase area. The process was poorly recorded, so it is only by inference that the rationale behind the allocations can be discovered. While the reserves could have been awarded under the provisions of the Native Land Act 1866, the majority were granted under the New Zealand Settlements Act 1863 and the New Zealand Settlements Amendment and Continuation Act 1865. Here, as in the rest of the confiscated district, the Crown’s political motives over-rode any duty it had to actively protect the future well being of Maori.

³⁷ Evidence of H. T. Clarke, Le 1 1877/5, NA, pp. 4-5.