CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction

This report concerns raupatu claims to the Waitangi Tribunal that cover some 290,000 acres of land around Tauranga Moana in the western Bay of Plenty. ‘Raupatu’ is the term given to the confiscation by the Crown of areas of Maori land during the New Zealand wars of the 1860s. In this chapter, we begin by describing the inquiry district before proceeding to summarise the history of our inquiry and the claims included within it. We end the chapter with a discussion of the Treaty of Waitangi and the Treaty principles that we consider relevant to this inquiry.

1.2 The Inquiry District

The Tauranga Moana inquiry district follows the boundary defined by the Tauranga District Lands Act 1868. From Nga Kuri a Wharei, on the coast at the north-west tip of the district, this boundary runs to the summit of Mount Te Aroha and then along the watershed of the Kaimai Range to Otanewainuku in the south, and back in a straight line to meet the coast again at Wairakei, near the present-day Papamoa Beach settlement. The inquiry district also includes two groups of islands: the ‘inshore islands’, within or bordering Tauranga Moana, the largest of which are Matakana and Rangiwaea; and the ‘off-shore islands’, which include Tuhua (Mayor Island), Motiti, and Karewa. Within the boundaries of the inquiry district are the modern-day urban areas of Tauranga and Mount Maunganui, and several smaller outlying urban centres from Papamoa in the east to Katikati in the west.

In September 1999, counsel for Waitaha applied to have the boundaries of the inquiry district extended to the east as far as the Waiari River, so as to include all of the Waitaha rohe.¹ The application was heard on 14 December 1999, and the Tribunal issued its ruling on 20 March 2000.² In it, the presiding officer stated that it was unfortunate that the raupatu boundary lines fixed by the Tauranga District Lands Act cut through the rohe of several hapu, including Waitaha. However, he declined to alter the boundaries of the inquiry district on the

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