Maori seek redress for Auckland land losses

By WAYNE THOMPSON

Negotiations over the first major urban Treaty of Waitangi claim are under way, with Ngati Whatua o Orakei seeking undisclosed compensation for the loss of 33,000ha of prime Auckland real estate.

The tribe began talks with the Crown yesterday over the loss of land in the 1840s after the treaty signing - losses the iwi says amount to billions of dollars.

Ngati Whatua o Orakei Trust Board chairman Sir Hugh Kawharu said no private land was affected by the claim.

At the tribal marae on Bastion Pt - a site the Crown returned to Ngati Whatua 12 years ago - Sir Hugh said he had waited 10 years for the chance to sit down at the negotiating table and put the record straight with officials from the Office of Treaty Settlements.

The proceedings, which continue today with the iwi presenting Crown officials with a history of its grievances, are not open to the media.

Trust board lawyer Don Wackrow said the claim was different from others made to the Waitangi Tribunal. No formula or precedents applied.

Mr Wackrow estimates the tribe has lost billions of dollars over the years because the Crown did not stick to agreements which encouraged land sales.

The board claims the tribe was harshly affected by its lack of knowledge and experience with Europeans and their laws pre-treaty.

In five years, they lost almost all of their lands apart from the Orakei Block.

By 1855 it was all gone.

The statement of historical research and grievance states that "the most startling features of the tribe's post-treaty history in Auckland are the speed at which they lost their lands outside the 700-acre [283ha] Orakei Block and the enormous scale of that loss".

The claim stems from the time that Ngati Whatua leaders invited Governor William Hobson to come to Auckland. A deed of purchase formed the suburbs of Parnell, the CBD, Ponsonby, Grey Lynn, Herne Bay, Westmere and some of Newmarket and Mt Eden.

The consideration was £281. Nine months later land now the CBD was on-sold by the Crown for £72,053.

A further block of more than 3230ha from Westmere to Epsom transferred in 1841 was sold for more than £200 plus four horses, 30 blankets, 10 cloaks and one desk.

The tribe says that if promises of income made by Governor Robert FitzRoy and negated by Governor George Grey had been kept "the whole history of Ngati Whatua for the last 150 years would have been very different".

"The Ngati Whatua community would have retained an important place in Auckland. Instead they became a largely broken and dispersed group, to their great loss."

Because the claim is urban "all the land concerned is far more valuable and the Ngati Whatua losses and Crown profits from treaty breaches are therefore even more pronounced. Because of present land values the cost of remedy is all the greater."

The statement says that before 1840 the tribe had limited contact with Pakeha and the land loss between 1840 and 1845 came against a backdrop where Ngati Whatua could not have understood the consequences of the Crown acquisition documents that they signed, nor even the concepts of legal and exclusive possession of land.

"Much of those lands were resold within two to four years at profits which ranged between the vast and the astronomical."

Asked whether Auckland citizens owning private land would be affected by any settlement, Sir Hugh said: "Absolutely not."

He smiled. "It's not like a sign I saw on a back of a bus. 'How much will Ngati Whatua give you for your house?' "



Border:

The claim

* Ngati Whatua o Orakei territory encompasses Auckland City (except Waiheke and Great Barrier Islands), the bulk of Waitakere and North Shore cities and small parts, largely shared with other tribes, of the northern portion of Manukau City and the southern portion of Rodney District.

* The claim is for loss of about 33,000ha between 1840 and 1845 in Auckland City, North Shore City and West Auckland

* Lands were resold by the Crown within two to four years for vast profits.

* Sales were unfair and breached Crown obligations.

* The Crown disobeyed Colonial Office instructions to share 15 per cent of proceeds for benefit of Ngati Whatua.

* Governor Grey negated a promise by Governor FitzRoy that a tenth of the land would be set aside as an endowment for the tribe's welfare.


* Next week the Herald will look at the history and scope of the Ngati Whatua claim.