Chapter 3 The Sale of Reserves, 1868 to the Early 1870s

3.1 Introduction

The reserves that were set aside for Maori in the Katikati-Te Puna block did not remain in Maori hands for long. In fact, it is evident that settler pressure was the primary cause for the execution of the reserves’ Grown grants. Given that the reserves were, in James Mackay’s words, ‘of great value mostly with harbour frontage’, it is not surprising that they were coveted by Pakeha buyers.¹ It could also be argued that the way that the government arranged the return of land outside the 50,000 acre confiscated block and the time it took to do this may have put additional pressure on the land in the Katikati-Te Puna block. Furthermore, the reserves’ lack of alienation restrictions, an absence of customary associations with many of the areas set aside, socio-economic uncertainty and, as we will see in more detail in Chapter 4, the ambivalence of government officials towards Maori trusteeship, contributed to this situation as well.

At least twenty-one reserves in the Katikati-Te Puna block – that is, just under 25 per cent of the total number set aside – were sold between September 1868 and December 1869. When translated into acres, this statistic is fairly alarming. In that short time, 2810 acres out of the 6909 acres said to have been set aside, that is, 40 per cent of the total reserved area, was alienated. In the Parish of Tahawai, for example, nine out of 19 allotments, or 1400 acres out of 2125, were sold. The rate of alienation was fairly similar throughout the purchased area; only reserves in the Parish of Katikati, proved to be the exception to this rule.

This chapter is divided into four parts. It opens with a brief sketch of Tauranga immediately after the war and up to the early 1870s. The aim of this section is to provide a socio-economic and political backdrop to purchasing activities in the area during this time and to chart the earliest documented land sales in the district. The

¹ James Mackay, ‘Report on the Katikati Purchase and other Questions Relating to the Tauranga District, 1867’ Le 1 1867/114, National Archives, Wellington (NA). See Evelyn Stokes, Te Raupatu o Tauranga Moana, Hamilton, 1990, vol. 2, p. 114.