Chapter 4 Disputes over Land Sales at Rereatukahia

4.1 Introduction

In August 1878, a succession case was brought before the Native Land Court in Tauranga to appoint successors to Te Moananui Tukaki’s interests in land granted to him by the Crown.¹ The reserves in question were Lot 49, Parish of Te Mania; Lot 2, known as Ahipatiki, in the Parish of Katikati; and Lots 12, 13 and 14 at Rereatukahia. The sales of Lots 12, 13, and 14 by Te Moananui to Gill were vigorously disputed by Te Moananui’s relatives during the hearing and the minutes taken during these succession cases bring to light the purchases’ dubious circumstances. Lots 12, 13 and 14 had been granted to a hapu described as ‘Ngatimura’ and Te Moananui and Ngarae had been nominated as the hapu’s trustees.² The issues that relatives of Te Moananui sought to resolve through the Court were the alleged breach to the guarantee that they held the land collectively and the repudiation of the sales that had occurred because of this breach.

The general aim of this chapter is to review what seems to be official ambivalence towards the status of these Katikati-Te Puna reserves asked to be held in trust. Given that the vesting of lands in trust to hapu was perhaps the only ‘legal’ protection the reserves had, this chapter considers whether or not the Crown, or its officials, paid due attention to collective ownership when it was specifically requested. Two points need to be made about the choice of material in this chapter. Firstly, although the succession case looked at a number of reserves, they were not as fully covered as Lots 12, 13, and 14. Secondly, because they have common features and participants, the separate cases for Lot 12 and Lots 13 and 14 are discussed together.

¹ Evelyn Stokes does not include a person named Te Moananui Tukaki in her index of Maori who

were awarded land in the Tauranga Confiscated District. The reserves in question are listed as being granted to Te Moananui Maraki, so it is assumed that Te Moananui Tukaki also used the name Te Moananui Maraki. Evelyn Stokes, The Allocation of Reserves to Maori in the Tauranga Confiscated Lands, Hamilton, 1997, vol. 2, pp. 190, 275.