Wai 388 Treaty Claim Lodged In 1993
While the Orakei Act 1991 settled Ngati Whatua o Orakei's grievances arising out of the break-up and sale of the former trust established by the Maori Land Court over the Orakei Block, section 19 of the Act also enabled the Trust Board to negotiate with the Crown beyond the borders of the Orakei Block over matters of common concern.
On this basis, the Board lodged a Treaty claim against the Crown on behalf of its beneficiaries in 1993, prepared its case over the following ten years, and entered into direct negotiation with the Office of Treaty Settlements in May 2003.
In brief, the claim covered the loss of a total area in excess of 32,000 hectares in the Tamaki Isthmus, parts of the North Shore, and West Auckland, plus the seabed, foreshore, and reclamations in the Waitemata Harbour, and northern parts of the Manukau Harbour.
This was the area throughout which, at the time of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, the various sections of the hapu had been working their gardens and fishing grounds.
The specific claims of Treaty breaches related to the failures:
- by govenors Hobson and Fitzroy to fulfil Colonial Office instructions that 15 to 20 per cent of Crown on-sale funds were to be employed for the direct benefit of Ngati Whatua,
- Governor Fitzroy's unilateral abrogation of the Crown's right of pre-emption clause in article two of the Treaty and his failure to execute protective measures, including:
- the prevention of sale of waahi tapu
- the requirement of surveys of land before sale
- the establishment of a trust to administer a fund consisting of ten per cent of all land purchased from Ngati Whatua in Tamaki
- George Grey's cancellation of the 'tenths' promise after Ngati Whatua had already transferred their lands; and his withholding of land from Ngati Whatua (after his land commissioners had failed to ratify many settler purchases for irregularities) and keeping it for the Crown, without notifying or compensating Ngati Whatua.