The Crown is sorry it brought ‘discord, death, and division’

Ngāti Hāua has signed a deed of settlement with the Crown for historical breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi.

Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith delivered an apology at Ngāpūwaiwaha Marae in Taumarunui last week. He said Crown actions have resulted in poor health, inadequate housing, low educational outcomes, and a lack of economic opportunities for the people of Ngāti Hāua.

This is a lightly edited extract from the settlement, starting with the Crown’s full apology, followed by the wrongs acknowledged by the Crown.

 

Apology

To the ancient and resilient Ngāti Hāua, to your tūpuna who have passed and your mokopuna who will lead you into the future, the Crown makes the following apology:

Ngāti Hāua, the Crown recognises that you have maintained your place at the upper reaches of the Whanganui River for centuries, weaving together te taura whiri a Hinengākau (the plaited rope of Hinengākau) through brokering peace and fostering connection.

Your tūpuna had a vision of partnership and mutual benefit when they signed te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi.

The Crown is greatly sorry that it did not live up to the promise of te Tiriti/the Treaty, and instead brought discord, death, and division to your iwi.

The Crown is deeply ashamed of and sorry for the horrific and reprehensible execution of your tupuna in 1846, and profoundly regrets that its behaviour toward Ngāti Hāua in the 1840s sowed deep and well-deserved mistrust of the Crown.

In the 1860s, Crown actions led to warfare between the Crown and Ngāti Hāua. The Crown is sincerely sorry for the severe toll warfare has had on Ngāti Hāua and the intergenerational stigma you still carry from being labelled rebels and fanatics.

Ngāti Hāua have shown persistent commitment to their rangatiratanga by joining and leading land retention movements and guarding the southern boundary of Te Rohe Pōtae.

Ngāti Hāua ultimately had no choice but to engage with the Crown’s determined drive to obtain land.

The Crown gained access to Te Rohe Pōtae to complete the North Island Main Trunk Railway by giving assurances that it did not honour. The Crown not only took land for the railway without paying compensation, but purchased extensive amounts of land for European settlement.

The Crown is truly remorseful for acquiring so much land that Ngāti Hāua became virtually landless, severed from resources, wāhi tapu, and taonga.

The Crown compulsorily acquired further land for public works. The Crown did not consult with Ngāti Hāua before establishing the Tongariro National Park or include you in the management arrangements, leaving you unable to safeguard wāhi tapu within the Park.

The Crown is greatly regretful and sorry that it gained so much from its breaches of te Tiriti/the Treaty at an immense cost to Ngāti Hāua and left many of you feeling marginalised in your own rohe, like second-class citizens.

You have worked tirelessly for so long to make the Crown aware of these injustices. You have had to learn and navigate the Crown’s systems and processes while the Crown has broken promises, ignored your protests, and shown Ngāti Hāua a profound lack of care when you have clearly been struggling.

The Crown’s acts and omissions have hindered the socio-economic development of your people. Poor health, inadequate housing, low educational outcomes, and a lack of economic opportunities have contributed significantly to many of your people leaving the rohe.

The Crown is unreservedly sorry for all of its breaches of te Tiriti/the Treaty and the harm they have caused you and pays tribute to your resilience.

Through this settlement, including this apology, the Crown hopes to build a platform on which we can form a new relationship, one that is based on the spirit of partnership that your tūpuna saw in te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi.

Acknowledgment of wrongs

The Crown acknowledges that when te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840, Ngāti Hāua held a position of great strength in their rohe.

However, the Crown has failed to actively protect the tino rangatiratanga of Ngāti Hāua, which was guaranteed by te Tiriti/the Treaty.

The Crown has not honoured its commitments and has failed to deal with the long-standing grievances of Ngāti Hāua.

Therefore, the Crown makes the following acknowledgements.

Conflict in Heretaunga valley in 1846

The Crown acknowledges that it breached Article 2 and 3 of te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles before the outbreak of conflict in the Heretaunga valley in 1846, and caused the iwi serious prejudice when it:

• Ordered Ngāti Hāua to abandon land and crops in the Heretaunga valley and occupied their cultivations before it would consider paying compensation.
• Did not protect Ngāti Hāua property from plunder and destruction by settlers, and Crown troops ransacked and burned Ngāti Hāua property, including an urupā and a chapel; and unnecessarily imposed martial law for a period in March 1846.

Te Rangiātea and Te Whareaitu’s trial, and Te Whareaitu’s execution

The Crown acknowledges that the exceptional harshness of the Crown’s punishment of Te Rangiātea and Mātene Ruta Te Whareaitu arising from events in the Wellington region in 1846 brought dishonour to the Crown.

The Crown further acknowledges that trying Te Rangiātea and Mātene Ruta Te Whareaitu under martial law meant they were deprived of procedural protections that would have been their right at a civilian trial.

Te Rangiātea was found guilty of being an armed follower of a rebel chief, and for having acted, aided and assisted in the rebellion against the Crown. Mātene Ruta Te Whareaitu was found guilty of being an armed follower of a rebel chief, of resisting and wounding one of the Crown’s Māori allies and for having acted, aided and assisted in the rebellion against the Crown.

Te Rangiātea and Mātene Ruta Te Whareaitu were respectively acquitted of the more serious charges of having participated in fighting against Crown forces in Heretaunga on 16 May and 16 June 1846.

The Court Martial sentenced Te Rangiātea, an elderly, sick and mentally-unwell man, to confinement for life, and Mātene Ruta Te Whareaitu to be hanged by the neck until death.

The Crown’s execution of Mātene Ruta Te Whareaitu by hanging on 17 September 1846 was described by the commanding military officer as an example to other Māori and in the New Zealand press as “a most sanguinary display of vengeance”.

The Crown’s actions have resulted in ongoing intergenerational trauma and stigma for the uri of Te Rangiātea and Mātene Ruta Te Whareaitu.

The bodies of Te Rangiātea and Mātene Ruta Te Whareaitu were interred without appropriate Ngāti Hāua ceremony and the final resting place of both tūpuna is unknown.

The uri of these tūpuna and Ngāti Hāua continue to search for their remains and still desire to return them to their ancestral homelands.

Exile of Whanganui Māori prisoners to Tasmania in 1846

The Crown acknowledges that, despite a lack of evidence, it unjustly exiled five prisoners, including four Ngāti Hāua tūpuna, to Tasmania in 1846. The Governor acted in bad faith by misrepresenting the prisoners’ offences to the Tasmanian authorities, and by asking the authorities to treat the prisoners harshly.

The impact of Ngāti Hāua acquiring flour laced with arsenic in 1847 (which the Crown made no formal investigations into).

The Crown acknowledges that during the fighting in 1847, it received reports that members of a tauā led by Tōpine te Mamaku had found a mixture of flour poisoned with arsenic that was left in a home evacuated by a settler family, and that at least two Māori had been poisoned. Ngāti Hāua have long held the belief that poisoned flour made many of their tūpuna sick and left them afraid to consume Pākehā food for decades, including during times of food scarcity. The sense of mamae and grievance felt by Ngāti Hāua in relation to these events persists to this day.

Warfare in Taranaki leading to warfare in Whanganui

The Crown acknowledges that the wars in Taranaki constituted an injustice and were in breach of te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles.

Despite the desire of many from Ngāti Hāua to maintain peace in their rohe, the Taranaki Wars led to the outbreak of warfare in the Whanganui district. The death of their tūpuna at the 1864 battle of Moutoa remains a considerable grievance for Ngāti Hāua.

The Crown’s attack on Ōhoutahi

The Crown acknowledges that it was ultimately responsible for the outbreak of warfare between the Kīngitanga, including Ngāti Hāua, and the Crown in the Whanganui district that began with the battle at the Ōhoutahi pā in 1865.

The confiscation/raupatu of Ngāti Hāua interests in Taranaki in 1865 was an injustice. The Crown further acknowledges that when this whenua was confiscated, Ngāti Hāua also lost access to some mahinga kai areas which once helped to sustain the Ngāti Hāua people in their rohe.

The Crown’s labelling of Ngāti Hāua as rebels in the 1860s

The Crown acknowledges that its unfair labelling of Ngāti Hāua as “rebels”, “hostile”, and “Hauhau” during the New Zealand Wars has stigmatised the iwi who sought to preserve their tino rangatiratanga.

The stigma Ngāti Hāua have borne for generations has had an intergenerational impact on the transmission of their kōrero tuku iho and pride in their Ngāti Hāuatanga.

Imprisonment of tūpuna and destruction of property at Parihaka in 1881

In the 1870s and early 1880s, Ngāti Hāua tūpuna were among Māori from many rohe drawn to the village of Parihaka, and the teachings of leaders Te Whiti o Rongomai and Tohu Kākahi.

These tūpuna were among those who suffered from the Crown’s grievous acts and omissions at Parihaka.

Ngāti Hāua tūpuna were among the protestors the Crown imprisoned, in conditions of unwarranted hardship, in South Island gaols for participating in peaceful campaigns of resistance at Parihaka in 1879 and 1880. This deprived the prisoners of basic human rights.

In its invasion and subsequent occupation of Parihaka in 1881, the Crown inflicted serious damage on Parihaka and assaulted the human rights of the people there, including Ngāti Hāua tūpuna.

The Crown destroyed the houses and belongings of these tūpuna, desecrated their sacred buildings, and destroyed their cultivations. The Crown’s unjust and unconscionable treatment of these tūpuna caused great distress.

Native land laws

The Crown acknowledges that the operation of the native land laws is a source of significant grievance for Ngāti Hāua because Ngāti Hāua were required to interact with a system they did not support, or risk exclusion from the ownership of their lands.

The Crown further acknowledges the strain placed on Ngāti Hāua by the Native Land Court holding hearings for the majority of their land blocks in a rapid timeframe in 1886 in geographically diverse locations.

The operation and impact of the native land laws, particularly the awarding of Ngāti Hāua land to individuals and enabling individuals to deal with that land without reference to their iwi or hapū, made the land more susceptible to fragmentation, alienation, and partition, and contributed to the erosion of Ngāti Hāua tribal structures.

The failure of the Crown to actively protect these tribal structures, which were based on collective tribal custodianship of land, was a breach of te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles.

Crown assurances regarding the agreement to lift the Te Rohe Pōtae Aukati in 1885

The Crown acknowledges that Ngāti Hāua exercised rangatiratanga over their lands within Te Rohe Pōtae prior to the 1885 agreement to lift the aukati and enforced the southern boundary of that aukati.

During negotiations with Te Rohe Pōtae Māori to lift the aukati to facilitate the building of the North Island Main Trunk Railway, the Crown was not prepared to agree to requests from Ngāti Hāua to exclude their lands in Te Rohe Pōtae from the jurisdiction of the Native Land Court.

The Crown breached the following assurances which were made in 1885 during negotiations to obtain consent to construct the North Island Main Trunk Railway through Te Rohe Pōtae:

1. it would extend the powers of Māori District Committees to have a greater role in Native Land Court processes and local government;
2. it would acquire only as much land for the North Island Main Trunk Railway as would be needed for its construction; and
3. it would apply no pressure on Māori to sell land they wished to lease.

The Crown failed to uphold these assurances and thereby breached te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles by not acting in good faith and by failing to respect the rangatiratanga of Ngāti Hāua.

North Island Main Trunk Railway

The Crown acknowledges that its failure to pay compensation to Ngāti Hāua for land compulsorily taken for the construction of the North Island Main Trunk Railway dishonoured a promise made by the Native Minister in 1885 that such compensation would be paid, and this was a breach of te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles.

The Crown further acknowledges that it derived enormous benefits from being able to construct the North Island Main Trunk Railway through Te Rohe Pōtae, and establish European settlement in the district, but Ngāti Hāua did not receive the long-term economic benefits they had been led to expect by the Crown during negotiations.

Waimarino Block Purchase

The Crown acknowledges that in 1887 it rapidly purchased more than 90 percent of the 452,196-acre Waimarino block from 821 Whanganui Māori, including Ngāti Hāua.

The Crown breached te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi and the standards of reasonableness and fair dealing because Ngāti Hāua did not know exactly what land was being purchased by the Crown, nor could they ensure they were paid a fair price for their interests.

The Crown was aware Ngāti Hāua had not been able to inspect and object to the survey of the block before the Court awarded the majority of the block to the Crown.

The Crown discouraged Ngāti Hāua applications to have their interests partitioned from the block because it would delay the Crown’s purchase.

The Crown determined what it considered to be the strengths of individual Ngāti Hāua interests and made payments according to its own judgement.

The Crown did not inform Ngāti Hāua of the price it was paying per acre for the Waimarino block.

The Crown acknowledges that it failed to pay a fair price to the Ngāti Hāua owners of the Waimarino block and its valuable resources.

The Crown acknowledges that Ngāti Hāua consistently protested the Crown’s purchase of the Waimarino block and that it failed to respond in an effective way to the grievances of Ngāti Hāua in relation to this purchase.

Ngāti Hāua lost ownership of kāinga in the Waimarino block, including Te Maire, Kākahi, and Rurumaiakatea, and wāhi tapu such as the western slope and peak of Ruapehu without their consent, because the Crown, in breach of te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi and the principle of active protection, did not carry out the terms of the purchase deed to agree the location of the seller reserves with Ngāti Hāua and reserved less land than it promised Ngāti Hāua during negotiations.

As a result, the Crown made Ngāti Hāua squatters who eventually had to move away from their kāinga due to the lack of food and the difficulties of living on land without a legal title.

Taumarunui Native Township

The Crown acknowledges that the consent of some Ngāti Hāua owners to the establishment of the Taumarunui Native Township on their land was given on the condition that the Native Land Court first subdivide ownership of the land on which the township would be established.

But the Crown asked the Native Land Court to delay hearing any subdivision applications and did not reengage with these owners before it proclaimed the establishment of the township in 1903 without there having been any subdivision.

The Crown failed to uphold the terms on which members of Ngāti Hāua consented to the establishment of the township.

The Crown acknowledges Ngāti Hāua requested that the Taumarunui Native Township be established under the Maori Lands Administration Act 1900 and vested in the local land council, which would have given them greater ability to exercise rangatiratanga over the township than the Native Township Act 1895.

However, after establishing the township in 1903, the Crown promoted legislation in 1905 that replaced the local land council which managed the land, and had at least two members elected by Māori, with a land board, which had only one Māori member who was appointed by the Crown.

By developing its policy proposals for land boards without consulting Ngāti Hāua, the Crown failed to provide for the continuing rangatiratanga of Ngāti Hāua, and this was a breach of te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles.

The expectations of Ngāti Hāua for the Taumarunui Native Township, including that they would retain influence over the administration of the township, and economically benefit from land retained in their ownership were not met.

The Crown failed to respond to the financial challenges faced by the owners and it prioritised the interests of the lessees over Ngāti Hāua owners by:

• allowing the Board to use rental incomes to fund infrastructure usually paid out of rates;
• taking no remedial action while rental incomes fell well behind land values;
• allowing the Board to impose perpetual leases on Ngāti Hāua owners against their will, and only paid some compensation for the low rentals Ngāti Hāua received from these leases many decades after the leases were first imposed;
• and purchasing and on-selling Ngāti Hāua land at the request of settlers.

The financial issues faced by the owners as a result of these problems led to Ngāti Hāua owners selling land they otherwise would have sought to retain.

The Crown failed to actively protect Ngāti Hāua interests in the Taumarunui Native Township and this was a breach of te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles.

Tongariro National Park

The Crown acknowledges that, despite being aware of the significance of the maunga in Tongariro National Park to Ngāti Hāua, it did not consult them in relation to reserving the mountain peaks for the purposes of creating a national park before or after opening discussions on that subject with another iwi, and this was a breach of te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles.

From 1907 the Crown failed to include Ngāti Hāua in the ongoing management arrangements of Tongariro National Park, and failed to respect their rangatiratanga and kaitiakitanga over the maunga, and this was a breach of te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles.

Detrimental changes to the natural environment of Tongariro National Park through commercial development and the introduction of exotic species have distressed Ngāti Hāua, who have been unable to exercise their kaitiaki obligations to safeguard taonga within the Park from degradation.

Vested Lands

Ngāti Hāua vested the Rētāruke block in the Aotea District Maori Land Board in 1912 so that it could be developed for commercial agriculture and returned to their control after being leased for two periods of 21 years.

However, Ngāti Hāua were not able to reoccupy the land when the leases expired in the 1930s and 1950s because they could not pay compensation for improvements owed to the lessees.

The Crown became aware during the 1920s that Ngāti Hāua would not be able to afford this compensation but did not take steps to address this issue until the 1950s.

The Crown’s failure to make arrangements for Ngāti Hāua to regain control of their vested lands in a reasonable and timely manner was a breach of te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles.

Public Works – Taumarunui Hospital

The Crown acknowledges that it breached te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles when it compulsorily acquired more land than was reasonably necessary for the site of Taumarunui Hospital at the time of the acquisition for the intended public work.

There was special cultural and historical significance of this land to Ngāti Hāua, as their tūrangawaewae, and Ngāti Hāua have not been able to make proper use of Te Peka Pā and Titipā urupā according to their tikanga as a consequence of the compulsory acquisition of the land.

The Crown’s takings of Ngāti Hāua lands of importance for public works are a significant grievance for Ngāti Hāua.

Whanganui River scenic reserves

The Crown acknowledges that it did not adequately consult with Ngāti Hāua nor fairly balance their interests and the public interest when it acquired their land for scenery preservation.

These failures led the Crown to compulsorily acquire more than 300 acres of iwi lands along the banks of the Whanganui River, including wāhi tapu and cultivations, in circumstances where Ngāti Hāua were struggling to sustain themselves due to significant land loss and the Crown should have done more to account for their views.

This was a breach of the Crown’s duty of active protection under te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles.

Whanganui National Park

The Crown acknowledges that its establishment of Whanganui National Park in 1987 exacerbated the prejudice and sense of grievance felt by Ngāti Hāua about the land the Crown acquired in the nineteenth century in breach of te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi.

The Crown further acknowledges that the ability of Ngāti Hāua to practice their kaitiakitanga over land and the Whanganui River has been limited.

Environmental degradation

The Crown acknowledges that since the nineteenth century, the lands, forests, and waterways within the Ngāti Hāua rohe have undergone significant detrimental changes as a result of pollution and irreversible land-use changes.

The removal of native forests for pasture has led to land erosion and siltation of many waterways. Sewage, animal effluence, landfill contaminants, and industrial and domestic wastewater discharge have reduced the water quality of some rivers, resulting in a reduction in the populations of native freshwater fish, crayfish and mussels.

Ngāti Hāua are profoundly distressed by these changes to the health and wellbeing of the lands, waters, and ecology within their rohe.

The Crown’s failure to ensure that Ngāti Hāua retained sufficient land for their collective and individual economic, social, and cultural needs is a breach of te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi and the principle of active protection and, as a result, Ngāti Hāua are virtually landless.

Te Reo Māori

Ngāti Hāua children who attended Crown-established schools were sometimes punished for speaking their own language, which contributed towards the decline of te reo Māori among their iwi.

The Crown failed to actively protect and encourage the use of te reo among Ngāti Hāua, which has declined as a consequence. Ngāti Hāua has thereby suffered a loss of their taonga.

The Crown’s failure to actively protect te reo Māori is a breach of te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles.

Socio-economic outcomes

The Crown acknowledges that the cumulative impact of its breaches of te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi has hindered the economic, social, and cultural development of Ngāti Hāua.

Ngāti Hāua have suffered poor health, inadequate housing, low educational outcomes, and a lack of economic opportunities that have significantly contributed to the migration away from the Ngāti Hāua rohe.

The maintenance of their ahikā and Ngāti Hāuatanga is a testament to the resilience of Ngāti Hāua.

This is a lightly edited extract from the Ngāti Hāua Deed of Settlement which can be read here.