Atrocities detailed in Gisborne report

By JON STOKES

Atrocities, including the Crown-backed execution - without trial - of up to 128 unarmed Maori prisoners, have surfaced from a Waitangi Tribunal report into the Gisborne region.

In its report, Turanga Tangata, Turanga Whenua, the tribunal ruled the executions, at Gisborne's Ngatapa Pa in 1868, were one of the worst abuses of law and human rights in New Zealand's colonial history.

However, the tribunal's report also highlighted treaty breaches by Maori, namely the murder of between 50 and 70 Pakeha and Maori at Matawhero, Oweta and Patutahi by rebel and spiritual leader Te Kooti and his followers.

The report, released on Saturday, details the almost complete destruction of Turanga Maori society after conflict with the Crown, sparked in March 1865 when emissaries of Pai Marire - a new Maori religious movement - arrived.

The Government, who was battling Ngati Porou Pai Marire supporters on the East Coast, feared the new arrivals would lead to conflict within the historically neutral Turanga Maori, who numbered around 1500. There were between 60 and 70 Pakeha settlers in the area.

Heavy-handed measures by Crown agent Donald Mclean, backed by Ngati Porou and colonial forces, began the demise of the until then fully autonomous Turanga Maori community.

The ensuing conflict led to Turanga Maori losing most of their land, with an estimated 43 per cent of its male population killed - the highest casualty rate of Maori in any region in New Zealand during the land wars.

The Waitangi Tribunal found the Crown breached the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi in Turanga by:

* Attacking a defensive pa at Warenga a Hika in November 1865.

* Deporting and detaining 123 prisoners on the Chatham Islands without charge or trial.

* Executing between 86 and 128 unarmed prisoners at Ngatapa Pa in 1868 - without trial or charge.

* Pressured remaining Turanga Maori to surrender 1.195 million acres of land - under threat the Crown would remove its protection.

* Confiscated without legal authority the property rights of hundreds of Turanga "rebel" Maori.

The Native Land Court commenced title investigations in Turanga in 1875, under the Native Lands Act, but Turanga Maori opposed the court because they wanted to make their own title decisions. Therefore, Turanga Maori sold individual shares that were far less valuable in the new settler-driven market, the tribunal said.

"The promised economic benefits which colonisation would bring to Maori were thus never realised in Turanga."

Gisborne had a "rich and sometimes dramatic history", but the tribunal said it was frustrated by the lack of local education programmes to ensure the community was aware of its past.

"That remains a primary obstacle to the process of reconciliation."

The Turanga report is the first released under the tribunal's "new approach" which aims to produce faster outcomes in historical claims.

Produced 4 1/2 years after the first meeting with claimant groups, it had halved the process time taken in other comparable districts.