Tribunal advocates 'generous redress'

The Waitangi Tribunal is recommending the Crown move quickly to settle claims by Tauranga Maori covering 117,418ha with "generous redress".

The tribunal has found that Tauranga Maori suffered considerable prejudice as a result of breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi.

Those breaches arose from the Crown's confiscation of Maori land in the Tauranga district before 1886.

The majority of the tribunal rejected the Crown's justification - that Maori were in rebellion - for the land confiscation.

Battles at Gate Pa (Pukehinahina) in April 1864 and Te Ranga in July 1864 had followed from the Waikato war, the tribunal said.

"The tribunal found that the Crown breached the treaty in substantial ways by landing troops at Tauranga and attacking local Maori.

"The Crown then used the resistance of Tauranga Maori as an excuse to confiscate their land."

In a dissenting opinion, tribunal member Dr Michael Bassett said he believed the tribunal report went too far. But his conclusions did not warrant any lessening of the size of settlement made with Tauranga Maori, he said.

"The treaty breaches were serious and should be acknowledged as such.

Dr Bassett, a historian and former Labour Cabinet minister, said it was clear to him that Tauranga Maori knowingly placed hearth and home in danger when they chose to travel westward and engage in the Waikato war.


"While Tauranga Maori suffered unduly as a result of the Crown's subsequent failure to fulfil its promises, the choices that they had earlier made contributed to their ultimate misery."

The report covers 55 separate claims involving the area around Tauranga Harbour, including Tauranga, Katikati and Mt Maunganui, stretching nearly to Te Puke in the south and Te Aroha in the northwest.

It includes Matakana, Tuhua (Mayor) and Motiti Islands.

The tribunal said the claimants and the Crown should review the report and decide whether it provided a basis for proceeding immediately to a negotiated settlement.

The tribunal recommended the Crown offer an unambiguous apology to the hapu of Tauranga Moana and make available for the settlement as much Tauranga district land as it has at its disposal.

- NZPA