The Waitangi Tribunal has been told iwi in the Porirua ki Manawatū rohe witnessed the most dishonest Crown purchase of Māori land on record.
The purchase of the Awahou and Rangitikei-Manawatū Blocks is now under the spotlight at the Porirua ki Manawatū District Inquiry. Photo: Supplied / Waitangi Tribunal
The Porirua ki Manawatū District Inquiry is underway near Fielding, where representatives of Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Kauwhata and Ngāti Reureu have told the tribunal the Crown breached the Treaty of Waitangi when it acquired land in the northern part of the district.
Sir Eddie Durie said the government was deceitful when it purchased the Awahou and Rangitikei-Manawatū blocks, which encompassed more than 240,000 acres of land.
"Our case on the purchase is that the sale deed was a fraud. In form it was contractual but in substance it was a taking without a proper consent, creating a fictional ownership to get around the opposition of the hapū leaders who were in possession and adopting confiscation practices from Taranaki to gain maximum land with minimal reserves.
"We believe the level of deceit was such as to make this the most dishonest Crown purchase of Māori land on record, and we will set out to prove that point."
Sir Eddie Durie. Photo: RNZ
Sir Eddie outlined six main claims concerning the iwi.
They include the purchase of the Awahou and Rangitikei-Manawatū Blocks, the Native Land Court Decision in 1869 granting the purchase, the native land act's reforms, the reserves, the collapsing of the papakainga and claims to Maungatautari.
He said Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Kauwhata and Reureu were deceived twice when the Crown purchased the land.
"We were defrauded once by the government when it claimed to have purchased the land from us and other tribes, and once by the government's own creation, the Native Land Court, when it controversially concluded that Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Kauwhata and Reureu were not the true owners.
"For the first time in my 80 years, it is only now that Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Kauwhata and Reureu have the chance to confront the case that blighted our people's chance of economic success in the new economy.
"I believe it was one of the greatest injustices inflicted on Māori people, matching the confiscations, because of the level of deceit in both the purchase and the judgment."
The Porirua ki Manawatu District Inquiry will continue over six hearing weeks.