New Zealand land confiscations
Encyclopedia
The New Zealand land confiscations took place during the 1860s to punish the Kingitanga movement
for attempting to set up an alternative, Māori, form of government that forbade the selling of land. The confiscation law targeted Kingitanga Māori against whom the government had waged war to restore the rule of British law. More than 3000000 acres (12,140.6 km²) or 4.4 percent of land were confiscated, mainly in Waikato
, Taranaki and the Bay of Plenty
, but also in South Auckland
, Hauraki, Te Urewera
, Hawke's Bay
and the East Coast.
Legislation for the confiscations was contained in the New Zealand Settlements Act 1863, which provided for the seizing of land from Māori tribes in rebellion against the Government. Its stated purpose was to achieve the "permanent protection and security" of the country's inhabitants and establish law, order and peace by using areas within the confiscated land to establish settlements for colonisation, populated initially by military settlers enlisted from among gold miners at Otago
and Victoria, Australia. Land not used by for military settlers would be surveyed and laid out as towns and rural allotments and then sold, with the money raised to be used to repay the expenses of fighting Māori. According to academic Dr Ranginui Walker
, this provided the ultimate irony for Māori who were fighting to defend their own land from European encroachment: "They were to pay for the settlement and development of their lands by its expropriation in a war for the extension of the Crown's sovereignty into their territory."
Although the legislation was ostensibly aimed at Māori tribes engaged in armed conflict with the government, the confiscations showed little distinction between "loyal" and "rebel" Māori tribes, and effectively robbed most Māori in the affected areas of their land and livelihood. The parliamentary debate of the legislation suggests that although the confiscation policy was purportedly designed to restore and preserve peace, some government ministers at the time saw its main purpose to be the acceleration and financing of colonisation. Much of the land that was never occupied by settlers was later sold by the Crown. Māori anger and frustration over the land confiscations led to the rise of the messianic Hauhau movement of the Pai Mārire
religion from 1864 and the outbreak of the Second Taranaki War
and Titokowaru's War
throughout Taranaki between 1863 and 1869.
Several claims have been lodged with both the Waitangi Tribunal
and the New Zealand Government since the 1990s seeking compensation for confiscations enacted under the Land Settlement Act. The tribunal, in its reports on its investigations, has concluded that although the land confiscation legislation was legal, every confiscation by the government breached the law, by both failing to provide sufficient evidence there was rebellion within the designated areas and also including vast areas of land, such as uninhabitable mountain areas, which there was no prospect of settling. Submissions by the Crown in the 1999 Ngāti Awa
investigation and a 1995 settlement with Waikato-Tainui
included an acknowledgement that confiscations from that tribe were unjust and a breach of the Treaty of Waitangi
.
Since the outbreak of the First Taranaki War
at Waitara
in March 1860, the New Zealand Government had been engaged in armed conflict with Māori who refused to sell their land for colonial settlement or surrender the "undisturbed possession of their lands and estates" the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi
had promised them. By mid-1863 the costs of fighting the war were continuing to mount – in 1861-62 the colonial defence vote was £8031, while the British Government spent about £400,000 – and the Government still found itself unable to quash Māori resistance.
In May 1863, weeks before the outbreak of the Second Taranaki War, Charles Brown
, the Superintendent of Taranaki
, wrote: "It would be rightful to confiscate from the tribes which should fight against us, territories of sufficient value to cover fully all the cost of the war." Three days later Governor Sir George Grey
and his ministers signed an agreement that a disputed block of land between Tataraimaka and Omata
in Taranaki would be confiscated and Waitara Māori hostile to the government were warned they also risked confiscation of their land.
Premier Alfred Domett
's ministry immediately began expanding their plans for mass confiscations. In June the ministry was planning a line of defence posts between Auckland
and Ngaruawahia
, clearing "all hostile natives" north of the line and confiscating their land, which would then be either given to military settlers or sold to defray the costs of war. The Government published notices of the terms for granting land in the Omata area to military settlers in July, and a month later for land in the Waikato area, even though no legislation for the confiscations yet existed.
In August 1863, just three weeks after the invasion of the Waikato began, Attorney-General
Frederick Whitaker
and Defence Minister Thomas Russell sent Governor Grey a memorandum signed by Premier Alfred Domett
, claiming that the Waikato, the most powerful Māori tribe, was planning to drive out or destroy Europeans and establish a native kingdom. They argued that the security of the colony demanded that Māori aggression needed to be punished and proposed that an armed population be recruited from the goldfields of Otago and Australia and settled on land taken from the "enemy". Whitaker and Russell, leading Auckland financiers, speculators and lawyers, were the most powerful men in the ministry and stood to make a substantial fortune if Māori south of Auckland could be moved from their land. Grey, who had recently returned from a term as Governor of the Cape Colony
in South Africa
, where the military settlement of Xhosa land had been undertaken, embraced the idea and in a dispatch to the Colonial Office a month later set out details of the plan, repeating the claim that Māori planned the wholesale destruction of some European settlements. The proposal was to place 5000 military settlers on the Waikato and Taranaki frontiers, each holding a 20 hectare farm on military tenure.
Grey attempted to allay potential misgivings in the Colonial Office by pointing out that there were only 3355 Māori living on 200,000 hectares of fertile land in the Waikato, and of this they had cultivated just 6000 hectares. He proposed making roads throughout the land to link the military settlements and towns and estimated the entire cost to be £3.5 million. The funds would be raised with a loan from the Bank of New Zealand
, which Defence Minister Russell had founded, and from which both he and Attorney-General Whitaker hoped to profit. Security for the loan would be provided by the profits expected from the sale of confiscated land to new immigrants.
By October the scheme had grown again, with the number of military settlers in Taranaki, Waikato and other areas now pegged at 20,000, with settlements linked by 1600 km of roads. In Taranaki alone, 8000 military settlers would be spread across 40 settlements stretching across 80,000 hectares from Waitara to Waitotara
, near Wanganui
.
was introduced into the House of Representatives on November 5, 1863, attracting little debate and only two votes against it in each of the Lower and Upper Houses before it became law. The Bill was introduced by the Native Minister, Sir William Fox
, who said its primary purpose was to suppress the "present rebellion". The word "confiscation did not appear in the legislation. The minister conceded that land of Māori who were not "in rebellion" could also be confiscated, but said they would be entitled to compensation through a Compensation Court.
The preamble said adequate provision should be made "for the permanent protection and security of the well-disposed Inhabitants of both races for the prevention of future insurrection or rebellion and for the establishment and maintenance of Her Majesty's authority and of Law and Order throughout the Colony ...the best and most effectual means of attaining those ends would be by the introduction of a sufficient number of settlers able to protect themselves and to preserve the peace of the Country."
The Act gave the Governor power to declare "as a District within the provisions of this Act" , any land which was owned or used by a tribe, or part of a tribe, which he was satisfied had "been engaged in rebellion against her Majesty's authority" since January 1, 1863. The Governor could then set apart any land within these districts for "settlements for colonisation". All such land was automatically deemed to be discharged from all title interest or claim of any person.
Compensation would be granted to those who claimed a title to it as long as they had not waged war or carried arms against the Crown or government forces, or given assistance or comfort to anyone who had done so. Claims for compensation would be considered by Compensation Courts established under the Act, with the judges to be appointed by the Governor.
The Governor would cause to be laid out a "sufficient number of towns and farms", contracts would be made with "certain persons for the granting of land to them respectively in return for Military Service", and remaining land would be surveyed and laid out as towns and suburban and rural allotments. Money raised from the sale of land would be directed towards the repayment of the expenses of "suppressing the present insurrection" as well as providing any compensation awarded.
. In the House of Representatives
, only two MPs spoke in the debate on the Bill. G. Brodie supported it in a brief speech and J. E. Fitzgerald, in a lengthy attack, argued that the Bill was contrary to the Treaty of Waitangi, and that confiscation would "drive every (Māori) into a state of hopeless rebellion ... be they friends or be they foes".
In the Legislative Council
Whitaker introduced the Bill, contending that by their rebellion, Māori had violated the Treaty of Waitangi, thereby discharging the Crown "from all obligation" under the Treaty. Former Attorney-General William Swainson opposed the legislation, claiming it was in breach of both the treaty and the New Zealand Constitution Act. He said the Crown could not, "with honour and good faith, seize the land of peaceable Māori subjects (those who were not in rebellion) without their consent". Dr Daniel Pollen
, a former Superintendent of Auckland
and Commissioner of Crown Lands, supported the Bill, but said the Government should take "not one acre more" than was necessary for military settlements. He described the legislation as immoral, claiming it was "in fact a Bill for the confiscation of Native lands of the province, that object being veiled by a specious form of words". He predicted that confiscation and military settlement would lead to a war of extermination.
Retired chief justice Sir William Martin was one of the few in New Zealand who publicly opposed confiscation. He wrote: "The example of Ireland
may satisfy us how little is to be effected towards the quieting of a country by the confiscation of private land; how the claim of the dispossessed owner is remembered from generation to generation, and how the brooding sense of wrong breaks out from time to time in fresh disturbance and crime."
In Britain, the Aborigines Protection Society also protested, with a statement noting: "We can conceive of no surer means of adding fuel to the flame of War; of extending the area of disaffection; and of making the Natives fight with the madness of despair, than a policy of confiscation. It could not fail to produce in New Zealand the same bitter fruits of which it has yielded so plentiful a harvest in other countries, where the strife of races has perpetuated through successive generations."
Governor Grey assented to the Bill on December 3, 1863 and, because the Queen
was empowered to still disallow the Act, a month later sent a copy of it to the Secretary of State for the Colonies
, Duke of Newcastle
, claiming he had agreed reluctantly with the principle. The Duke was replaced in April 1864 by Edward Cardwell
, who wrote back to Grey expressing several objections to the law – it could be applied to Māori in any part of the North Island; it allowed unlimited confiscation; some could be dispossessed without having been engaged in rebellion; and decisions could be made in secret without argument or appeal – and suggested the powers of the Act be limited to two years and that an independent commission be appointed to determine the lands to be confiscated. He noted that the Act allowed "great abuse" and needed to be controlled with a strong hand, recognising that it could prolong rather than terminate war. He urged the Governor to withhold his permission to any confiscation if he was not satisfied it was "just and moderate".
Cardwell offered his own warning of the possible consequences of excessive confiscation: "The original power, the Maori, (would) be driven back to the forest and morass (and) the sense of injustice, combined with the pressure of want, would convert the native population into a desperate banditti, taking refuge in the solitudes of the interior from the pursuit of the police or military, and descending, when opportunity might occur, into the cultivated plain to destroy the peaceful fruits of industry." Despite his reservations, Cardwell opted not to disallow the Act and later passed on an opinion of Crown law officers that it was not repugnant to the laws of England.
On January 30, 1865, Grey issued a proclamation to seize the middle Taranaki district, between the Waitara River and the Waimate Stream. Separate proclamations identified Waitara South and Oakura
as confiscated districts. On September 2 he issued further proclamations, embracing the Ngati Awa and Ngati Ruanui districts, effectively seizing all of Taranaki from Parinihi to Wanganui and beyond Mt Taranaki in the interior. The same day Grey announced that "the war which commenced at Oakura is at an end", that "sufficient punishment" had been inflicted and that no more land would be confiscated. In fact no Taranaki land remained unconfiscated. Despite the announcement of peace, hostilities continued in the Taranaki War
, as Major-General Trevor Chute
stepped up his aggressive campaign of storming pā throughout South Taranaki.
Confiscations in Taranaki left many hapu with nothing of their own to live on, forcing them to become squatters on Crown land and driving them to unaccustomed levels of desperation.
iwi (tribe) in the Waikato as punishment for their earlier rebellion. The war and confiscation of land caused heavy economic, social and cultural damage to Waikato-Tainui. King Tāwhiao
and his people were forced to retreat into the heartland of Ngāti Maniapoto
. The Maniapoto, by contrast, had been more zealous for war than the Waikato, yet suffered no loss of land because its territory was too remote to be of use to white settlers. The 1927 Royal Commission on Confiscated Land, chaired by senior Supreme Court judge Sir William Sim, concluded that the Waikato confiscations had been "excessive" and the Waitangi Tribunal
in 1985 declared the Tainui people of the Waikato had never rebelled, but had been forced into a defensive war. In the early 1990s Tainui opted to bypass the Waitangi Tribunal and concluded a Treaty claims settlement with the Crown through direct negotiation. In May 1995 the Crown signed a Deed of Settlement with Waikato-Tainui that included cash and land valued at $170 million. The settlement included an admission by the Crown that it had "unjustly confiscated" the land.
land in the Bay of Plenty on the grounds of war and rebellion. The Waitangi Tribunal noted there was a "popular belief" the confiscations were punishment for the murder of James Te Mautaranui Fulloon, an officer of the Crown, at Whakatane
in July 1865, but said the Settlements Act could not be used as a punishment for the crime of murder. In addition, only two or three of 30 Ngāti Awa hapu (sub-tribes) were involved in the murder, the individuals responsible for the murder were already on trial at the time of the confiscation and all resistance was at an end in the area, with local rangatira (chiefs) having taken an oath of allegiance. The most unconscionable of the many ironies in the confiscation was that the main part of the land used for military settlements was at Whakatane
, on the land of the most innocent. The tribunal concluded: "We do not think it is at all established that there was a war in the usual sense. More particularly, we consider that there was no rebellion ... the confiscation was clearly contrary to the Treaty of Waitangi."
), rarely had more than a dozen. The main reason was the inability of the provincial government to provide work for the men, or to build roads and bridges linking the settlements.
Throughout New Zealand the Government had confiscated areas clearly unsuitable for settlement: in Taranaki, they had taken the whole of Mt Taranaki, while in the Bay of Plenty they had confiscated Mt Putauaki, the whole of the Rangitaiki Swamp and other areas of thick bush. Military settlers ultimately took less than 1 per cent of land confiscated from Ngati Awa.
In Taranaki, Māori, often with the tacit consent of the government, later began returning to the lands that had been taken from them. When parts of those lands were subsequently wanted for settlement, compensation payments were made to Māori users – in government eyes, a bribe to keep the peace rather than a purchase price – and deeds of cession were signed, transferring title to Europeans. In 1880 spiritual leader Te Whiti o Rongomai
judged that such payments meant the confiscations were a sham and began to actively claim back confiscated land that had not been used by the government, proceeding on the basis that Māori only had to enter the land and plough it to re-establish their rights. Te Whiti rejected cession payments and bribes and his followers persistently pulled up surveyors' pegs and obstructed road makers, initially in central Taranaki and later throughout New Zealand, with ploughmen's campaigns. Tension led to the armed police raid on Parihaka
, Taranaki, in November 1881 and the expulsion of 2000 men, women and children, followed by the destruction of the village.
Maori King Movement
The Māori King Movement or Kīngitanga is a movement that arose among some of the Māori tribes of New Zealand in the central North Island ,in the 1850s, to establish a role similar in status to that of the monarch of the colonising people, the British, as a way of halting the alienation of Māori land...
for attempting to set up an alternative, Māori, form of government that forbade the selling of land. The confiscation law targeted Kingitanga Māori against whom the government had waged war to restore the rule of British law. More than 3000000 acres (12,140.6 km²) or 4.4 percent of land were confiscated, mainly in Waikato
Waikato
The Waikato Region is a local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato, Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, the northern King Country, much of the Taupo District, and parts of Rotorua District...
, Taranaki and the Bay of Plenty
Bay of Plenty
The Bay of Plenty , often abbreviated to BOP, is a region in the North Island of New Zealand situated around the body of water of the same name...
, but also in South Auckland
South Auckland
South Auckland is an imprecisely defined area of Auckland, New Zealand, often stereotyped as a socio-economically disadvantaged, and sometimes rough, urban area with a relatively large Polynesian and Māori population. The name South Auckland is not an official place name but is in common use by New...
, Hauraki, Te Urewera
Te Urewera
Te Urewera is an area of the central North Island of New Zealand. Located in rough, sparsely populated hill country to the northeast of Lake Taupo, it is the historical home of Tuhoe, a Māori iwi known for their controversial stance on Māori sovereignty...
, Hawke's Bay
Hawke's Bay
Hawke's Bay is a region of New Zealand. Hawke's Bay is recognised on the world stage for its award-winning wines. The regional council sits in both the cities of Napier and Hastings.-Geography:...
and the East Coast.
Legislation for the confiscations was contained in the New Zealand Settlements Act 1863, which provided for the seizing of land from Māori tribes in rebellion against the Government. Its stated purpose was to achieve the "permanent protection and security" of the country's inhabitants and establish law, order and peace by using areas within the confiscated land to establish settlements for colonisation, populated initially by military settlers enlisted from among gold miners at Otago
Otago
Otago is a region of New Zealand in the south of the South Island. The region covers an area of approximately making it the country's second largest region. The population of Otago is...
and Victoria, Australia. Land not used by for military settlers would be surveyed and laid out as towns and rural allotments and then sold, with the money raised to be used to repay the expenses of fighting Māori. According to academic Dr Ranginui Walker
Ranginui Walker
Ranginui Joseph Isaac Walker, DCNZM is a Māori academic and writer living in New Zealand. He was educated at St Peter's Maori College, Auckland, Auckland Teachers' Training College and Auckland University. Walker is a member of the Whakatōhea tribe of Opotiki in the Bay of Plenty. Walker was a...
, this provided the ultimate irony for Māori who were fighting to defend their own land from European encroachment: "They were to pay for the settlement and development of their lands by its expropriation in a war for the extension of the Crown's sovereignty into their territory."
Although the legislation was ostensibly aimed at Māori tribes engaged in armed conflict with the government, the confiscations showed little distinction between "loyal" and "rebel" Māori tribes, and effectively robbed most Māori in the affected areas of their land and livelihood. The parliamentary debate of the legislation suggests that although the confiscation policy was purportedly designed to restore and preserve peace, some government ministers at the time saw its main purpose to be the acceleration and financing of colonisation. Much of the land that was never occupied by settlers was later sold by the Crown. Māori anger and frustration over the land confiscations led to the rise of the messianic Hauhau movement of the Pai Mārire
Pai Marire
The Pai Mārire movement was a syncretic Māori religion that flourished in New Zealand from about 1863 to 1874. Founded in Taranaki by the prophet Te Ua Haumene, it incorporated Biblical and Māori spiritual elements and promised its followers deliverance from Pākehā domination, providing a...
religion from 1864 and the outbreak of the Second Taranaki War
Second Taranaki War
-Background and causes of the war:The conflict in Taranaki had its roots in the First Taranaki War, which had ended in March 1861 with an uneasy truce. Neither side fulfilled the terms of the truce, leaving many of the issues unresolved...
and Titokowaru's War
Titokowaru's War
-Cause and background of the war:The immediate cause of the war was the confiscation of vast areas of Māori land in Taranaki by the Government under the powers of the punitive New Zealand Settlements Act 1863...
throughout Taranaki between 1863 and 1869.
Several claims have been lodged with both the Waitangi Tribunal
Waitangi Tribunal
The Waitangi Tribunal is a New Zealand permanent commission of inquiry established under the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975...
and the New Zealand Government since the 1990s seeking compensation for confiscations enacted under the Land Settlement Act. The tribunal, in its reports on its investigations, has concluded that although the land confiscation legislation was legal, every confiscation by the government breached the law, by both failing to provide sufficient evidence there was rebellion within the designated areas and also including vast areas of land, such as uninhabitable mountain areas, which there was no prospect of settling. Submissions by the Crown in the 1999 Ngāti Awa
Ngati Awa
Ngāti Awa is a Māori iwi centred in the eastern Bay of Plenty Region of New Zealand.Ngāti Awa comprises 22 hapu , with 15,258 people claiming affiliation to the iwi in 2006. The Ngāti Awa people are primarily located in towns on the Rangitaiki Plain, including Whakatane, Kawerau, Edgecumbe, Te...
investigation and a 1995 settlement with Waikato-Tainui
Tainui
Tainui is a tribal waka confederation of New Zealand Māori iwi. The Tainui confederation comprises four principal related Māori iwi of the central North Island of New Zealand: Hauraki, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Raukawa and Waikato...
included an acknowledgement that confiscations from that tribe were unjust and a breach of the Treaty of Waitangi
Treaty of Waitangi
The Treaty of Waitangi is a treaty first signed on 6 February 1840 by representatives of the British Crown and various Māori chiefs from the North Island of New Zealand....
.
Background to legislation
First Taranaki War
The First Taranaki War was an armed conflict over land ownership and sovereignty that took place between Māori and the New Zealand Government in the Taranaki district of New Zealand's North Island from March 1860 to March 1861....
at Waitara
Waitara, New Zealand
Waitara is the name of a town and a river in the northern part of the Taranaki Region of the North Island of New Zealand. Waitara is located just off State Highway 3, 15 km northeast of New Plymouth....
in March 1860, the New Zealand Government had been engaged in armed conflict with Māori who refused to sell their land for colonial settlement or surrender the "undisturbed possession of their lands and estates" the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi
Treaty of Waitangi
The Treaty of Waitangi is a treaty first signed on 6 February 1840 by representatives of the British Crown and various Māori chiefs from the North Island of New Zealand....
had promised them. By mid-1863 the costs of fighting the war were continuing to mount – in 1861-62 the colonial defence vote was £8031, while the British Government spent about £400,000 – and the Government still found itself unable to quash Māori resistance.
In May 1863, weeks before the outbreak of the Second Taranaki War, Charles Brown
Charles Brown (Taranaki)
Charles Brown was a New Zealand politician from the Taranaki area.-Personal life:Brown was born in London, England, the illegitimate son of Charles Armitage Brown and Abigail O'Donohue, an Irish house servant at Wentworth Place where Brown and Keats resided...
, the Superintendent of Taranaki
Taranaki Province
The Taranaki Province was a province of New Zealand from 1853 until the abolition of provincial government in 1876...
, wrote: "It would be rightful to confiscate from the tribes which should fight against us, territories of sufficient value to cover fully all the cost of the war." Three days later Governor Sir George Grey
George Grey
George Grey may refer to:*Sir George Grey, 2nd Baronet , British politician*George Grey, 2nd Earl of Kent *Sir George Grey , Governor of Cape Colony, South Australia and New Zealand...
and his ministers signed an agreement that a disputed block of land between Tataraimaka and Omata
Omata
Omata is a locality in Taranaki, in the western North Island of New Zealand. It is located on State Highway 45 just southwest of New Plymouth.The population was 474 in the 2006 Census, an increase of 27 from 2001....
in Taranaki would be confiscated and Waitara Māori hostile to the government were warned they also risked confiscation of their land.
Premier Alfred Domett
Alfred Domett
Alfred Domett, CMG was an English colonial statesman and poet. He was New Zealand's fourth Premier.-Early life:He was born at Camberwell, Surrey; his father was a ship-owner...
's ministry immediately began expanding their plans for mass confiscations. In June the ministry was planning a line of defence posts between Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
and Ngaruawahia
Ngaruawahia
Ngāruawāhia is a town in the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is located 20 km north-west of Hamilton at the confluence of the Waikato and Waipa Rivers...
, clearing "all hostile natives" north of the line and confiscating their land, which would then be either given to military settlers or sold to defray the costs of war. The Government published notices of the terms for granting land in the Omata area to military settlers in July, and a month later for land in the Waikato area, even though no legislation for the confiscations yet existed.
In August 1863, just three weeks after the invasion of the Waikato began, Attorney-General
Attorney-General (New Zealand)
The Attorney-General is a political office in New Zealand. It is simultaneously a ministerial position and an administrative office, and has responsibility for supervising New Zealand law and advising the government on legal matters...
Frederick Whitaker
Frederick Whitaker
Sir Frederick Whitaker, KCMG was an English-born New Zealand politician who served twice as the fifth Premier of New Zealand and six times as Attorney-General.-Early life:...
and Defence Minister Thomas Russell sent Governor Grey a memorandum signed by Premier Alfred Domett
Alfred Domett
Alfred Domett, CMG was an English colonial statesman and poet. He was New Zealand's fourth Premier.-Early life:He was born at Camberwell, Surrey; his father was a ship-owner...
, claiming that the Waikato, the most powerful Māori tribe, was planning to drive out or destroy Europeans and establish a native kingdom. They argued that the security of the colony demanded that Māori aggression needed to be punished and proposed that an armed population be recruited from the goldfields of Otago and Australia and settled on land taken from the "enemy". Whitaker and Russell, leading Auckland financiers, speculators and lawyers, were the most powerful men in the ministry and stood to make a substantial fortune if Māori south of Auckland could be moved from their land. Grey, who had recently returned from a term as Governor of the Cape Colony
Cape Colony
The Cape Colony, part of modern South Africa, was established by the Dutch East India Company in 1652, with the founding of Cape Town. It was subsequently occupied by the British in 1795 when the Netherlands were occupied by revolutionary France, so that the French revolutionaries could not take...
in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, where the military settlement of Xhosa land had been undertaken, embraced the idea and in a dispatch to the Colonial Office a month later set out details of the plan, repeating the claim that Māori planned the wholesale destruction of some European settlements. The proposal was to place 5000 military settlers on the Waikato and Taranaki frontiers, each holding a 20 hectare farm on military tenure.
Grey attempted to allay potential misgivings in the Colonial Office by pointing out that there were only 3355 Māori living on 200,000 hectares of fertile land in the Waikato, and of this they had cultivated just 6000 hectares. He proposed making roads throughout the land to link the military settlements and towns and estimated the entire cost to be £3.5 million. The funds would be raised with a loan from the Bank of New Zealand
Bank of New Zealand
Bank of New Zealand is one of New Zealand’s largest banks and has been operating continuously in the country since the first office was opened in Auckland in October 1861 followed shortly after by the first branch in Dunedin in December 1861...
, which Defence Minister Russell had founded, and from which both he and Attorney-General Whitaker hoped to profit. Security for the loan would be provided by the profits expected from the sale of confiscated land to new immigrants.
By October the scheme had grown again, with the number of military settlers in Taranaki, Waikato and other areas now pegged at 20,000, with settlements linked by 1600 km of roads. In Taranaki alone, 8000 military settlers would be spread across 40 settlements stretching across 80,000 hectares from Waitara to Waitotara
Waitotara
Waitotara is a town in South Taranaki, New Zealand. Waverley is 10 km to the north-west, and Wanganui is 34 km to the south-east. State Highway 3 passes through it. The Waitotara River flows past the east side of the town....
, near Wanganui
Wanganui
Whanganui , also spelled Wanganui, is an urban area and district on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is part of the Manawatu-Wanganui region....
.
Legislation and debate
The New Zealand Settlements BillBill (proposed law)
A bill is a proposed law under consideration by a legislature. A bill does not become law until it is passed by the legislature and, in most cases, approved by the executive. Once a bill has been enacted into law, it is called an act or a statute....
was introduced into the House of Representatives on November 5, 1863, attracting little debate and only two votes against it in each of the Lower and Upper Houses before it became law. The Bill was introduced by the Native Minister, Sir William Fox
William Fox (New Zealand)
Sir William Fox, KCMG was the second Premier of New Zealand on four occasions in the 19th century, while New Zealand was still a colony. He was known for his eventual support of Māori land rights, his contributions to the education system , and his work to increase New Zealand's autonomy from...
, who said its primary purpose was to suppress the "present rebellion". The word "confiscation did not appear in the legislation. The minister conceded that land of Māori who were not "in rebellion" could also be confiscated, but said they would be entitled to compensation through a Compensation Court.
Legislation
The preamble to the Act noted that the North Island had "been subject to insurrections amongst the evil-disposed persons of the Native race to the great injury alarm and intimidation of Her Majesty's peaceable subjects of both races and involving great losses of life and expenditure of money in their suppression". It continued: "Many outrages upon lives and property have recently been committed and such outrages are still threatened and of almost daily occurrence ... A large number of the Inhabitants of several districts of the Colony have entered into combinations and taken up arms with the object of attempting the extermination or expulsion of the European settlers and are now engaged in open rebellion against Her Majesty's authority."The preamble said adequate provision should be made "for the permanent protection and security of the well-disposed Inhabitants of both races for the prevention of future insurrection or rebellion and for the establishment and maintenance of Her Majesty's authority and of Law and Order throughout the Colony ...the best and most effectual means of attaining those ends would be by the introduction of a sufficient number of settlers able to protect themselves and to preserve the peace of the Country."
The Act gave the Governor power to declare "as a District within the provisions of this Act" , any land which was owned or used by a tribe, or part of a tribe, which he was satisfied had "been engaged in rebellion against her Majesty's authority" since January 1, 1863. The Governor could then set apart any land within these districts for "settlements for colonisation". All such land was automatically deemed to be discharged from all title interest or claim of any person.
Compensation would be granted to those who claimed a title to it as long as they had not waged war or carried arms against the Crown or government forces, or given assistance or comfort to anyone who had done so. Claims for compensation would be considered by Compensation Courts established under the Act, with the judges to be appointed by the Governor.
The Governor would cause to be laid out a "sufficient number of towns and farms", contracts would be made with "certain persons for the granting of land to them respectively in return for Military Service", and remaining land would be surveyed and laid out as towns and suburban and rural allotments. Money raised from the sale of land would be directed towards the repayment of the expenses of "suppressing the present insurrection" as well as providing any compensation awarded.
Parliamentary debate
Despite Māori making up a third of New Zealand's population, the Parliament had no Māori membersMember of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
. In the House of Representatives
New Zealand House of Representatives
The New Zealand House of Representatives is the sole chamber of the legislature of New Zealand. The House and the Queen of New Zealand form the New Zealand Parliament....
, only two MPs spoke in the debate on the Bill. G. Brodie supported it in a brief speech and J. E. Fitzgerald, in a lengthy attack, argued that the Bill was contrary to the Treaty of Waitangi, and that confiscation would "drive every (Māori) into a state of hopeless rebellion ... be they friends or be they foes".
In the Legislative Council
New Zealand Legislative Council
The Legislative Council of New Zealand was the upper house of the New Zealand Parliament from 1853 until 1951. Unlike the lower house, the New Zealand House of Representatives, the Legislative Council was appointed.-Role:...
Whitaker introduced the Bill, contending that by their rebellion, Māori had violated the Treaty of Waitangi, thereby discharging the Crown "from all obligation" under the Treaty. Former Attorney-General William Swainson opposed the legislation, claiming it was in breach of both the treaty and the New Zealand Constitution Act. He said the Crown could not, "with honour and good faith, seize the land of peaceable Māori subjects (those who were not in rebellion) without their consent". Dr Daniel Pollen
Daniel Pollen
Daniel Pollen was the son of Elizabeth and Hugh Pollen and became the ninth Premier of New Zealand, serving from 6 July 1875 to 15 February 1876.-Early life:...
, a former Superintendent of Auckland
Auckland Province
The Auckland Province was a province of New Zealand from 1853 until the abolition of provincial government in 1876.-Anniversary Day:...
and Commissioner of Crown Lands, supported the Bill, but said the Government should take "not one acre more" than was necessary for military settlements. He described the legislation as immoral, claiming it was "in fact a Bill for the confiscation of Native lands of the province, that object being veiled by a specious form of words". He predicted that confiscation and military settlement would lead to a war of extermination.
Public debate
Confiscation was promoted by the press and many settlers because of its potential to provide cheap land and repay the cost of fighting the land wars. The Southern Cross newspaper condemned the conduct of the "blood-thirsty murderers" in the Waikato and declared: "There is only one way of meeting this, and that is by confiscation and the sword ... the natives have forced it upon us ... At the very least large tracts of their lands must be the penalty."Retired chief justice Sir William Martin was one of the few in New Zealand who publicly opposed confiscation. He wrote: "The example of Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
may satisfy us how little is to be effected towards the quieting of a country by the confiscation of private land; how the claim of the dispossessed owner is remembered from generation to generation, and how the brooding sense of wrong breaks out from time to time in fresh disturbance and crime."
In Britain, the Aborigines Protection Society also protested, with a statement noting: "We can conceive of no surer means of adding fuel to the flame of War; of extending the area of disaffection; and of making the Natives fight with the madness of despair, than a policy of confiscation. It could not fail to produce in New Zealand the same bitter fruits of which it has yielded so plentiful a harvest in other countries, where the strife of races has perpetuated through successive generations."
Colonial Office response
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
was empowered to still disallow the Act, a month later sent a copy of it to the Secretary of State for the Colonies
Secretary of State for the Colonies
The Secretary of State for the Colonies or Colonial Secretary was the British Cabinet minister in charge of managing the United Kingdom's various colonial dependencies....
, Duke of Newcastle
Henry Pelham-Clinton, 5th Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne
Henry Pelham Pelham-Clinton, 5th Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne KG, PC , styled Earl of Lincoln before 1851, was a British politician.-Background:...
, claiming he had agreed reluctantly with the principle. The Duke was replaced in April 1864 by Edward Cardwell
Edward Cardwell, 1st Viscount Cardwell
Edward Cardwell, 1st Viscount Cardwell PC, PC , FRS was a prominent British politician in the Peelite and Liberal parties during the middle of the 19th century...
, who wrote back to Grey expressing several objections to the law – it could be applied to Māori in any part of the North Island; it allowed unlimited confiscation; some could be dispossessed without having been engaged in rebellion; and decisions could be made in secret without argument or appeal – and suggested the powers of the Act be limited to two years and that an independent commission be appointed to determine the lands to be confiscated. He noted that the Act allowed "great abuse" and needed to be controlled with a strong hand, recognising that it could prolong rather than terminate war. He urged the Governor to withhold his permission to any confiscation if he was not satisfied it was "just and moderate".
Cardwell offered his own warning of the possible consequences of excessive confiscation: "The original power, the Maori, (would) be driven back to the forest and morass (and) the sense of injustice, combined with the pressure of want, would convert the native population into a desperate banditti, taking refuge in the solitudes of the interior from the pursuit of the police or military, and descending, when opportunity might occur, into the cultivated plain to destroy the peaceful fruits of industry." Despite his reservations, Cardwell opted not to disallow the Act and later passed on an opinion of Crown law officers that it was not repugnant to the laws of England.
Taranaki
More than a year passed before Grey, who appeared to be involved in a power struggle with government ministers, issued his first proclamation to confiscate land. Within that time, however, Parliament also passed the Public Works Act 1864. which allowed Māori land to be taken for public works – initially, a road between Wanganui and New Plymouth. (In 1865 the Outlying Districts Police Act also came into force, enabling more land to be forfeited when chiefs failed to surrender fugitives).On January 30, 1865, Grey issued a proclamation to seize the middle Taranaki district, between the Waitara River and the Waimate Stream. Separate proclamations identified Waitara South and Oakura
Oakura
Oakura is a small township in Taranaki, in the western North Island of New Zealand. It is located on State Highway 45, 15 kilometres south-west of New Plymouth. Okato is 12 km further south-west. The Oakura River flows past the town and into the North Taranaki Bight...
as confiscated districts. On September 2 he issued further proclamations, embracing the Ngati Awa and Ngati Ruanui districts, effectively seizing all of Taranaki from Parinihi to Wanganui and beyond Mt Taranaki in the interior. The same day Grey announced that "the war which commenced at Oakura is at an end", that "sufficient punishment" had been inflicted and that no more land would be confiscated. In fact no Taranaki land remained unconfiscated. Despite the announcement of peace, hostilities continued in the Taranaki War
Second Taranaki War
-Background and causes of the war:The conflict in Taranaki had its roots in the First Taranaki War, which had ended in March 1861 with an uneasy truce. Neither side fulfilled the terms of the truce, leaving many of the issues unresolved...
, as Major-General Trevor Chute
Trevor Chute
Major-General Sir Trevor Chute KCB, 31 July 1816 – 12 March 1886 , was an Irish soldier in the British army, whose six week campaign during the Second Taranaki War was the last to be carried out in New Zealand by imperial troops.-Family Background:...
stepped up his aggressive campaign of storming pā throughout South Taranaki.
Confiscations in Taranaki left many hapu with nothing of their own to live on, forcing them to become squatters on Crown land and driving them to unaccustomed levels of desperation.
Waikato
Although fighting in Waikato had finished by mid-1864, the following year Grey confiscated almost 481,000 hectares of land from the Waikato-TainuiTainui
Tainui is a tribal waka confederation of New Zealand Māori iwi. The Tainui confederation comprises four principal related Māori iwi of the central North Island of New Zealand: Hauraki, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Raukawa and Waikato...
iwi (tribe) in the Waikato as punishment for their earlier rebellion. The war and confiscation of land caused heavy economic, social and cultural damage to Waikato-Tainui. King Tāwhiao
Tawhiao
Tāwhiao I, Māori King , was leader of the Waikato tribes, the second Māori King and a religious visionary. He was a member of the Ngāti Mahuta iwi of Waikato....
and his people were forced to retreat into the heartland of Ngāti Maniapoto
Ngati Maniapoto
Ngāti Maniapoto is an iwi based in the Waikato-Waitomo region of New Zealand's North Island. It is part of the Tainui confederation, the members of which trace their whakapapa back to people who arrived in New Zealand on the waka Tainui...
. The Maniapoto, by contrast, had been more zealous for war than the Waikato, yet suffered no loss of land because its territory was too remote to be of use to white settlers. The 1927 Royal Commission on Confiscated Land, chaired by senior Supreme Court judge Sir William Sim, concluded that the Waikato confiscations had been "excessive" and the Waitangi Tribunal
Waitangi Tribunal
The Waitangi Tribunal is a New Zealand permanent commission of inquiry established under the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975...
in 1985 declared the Tainui people of the Waikato had never rebelled, but had been forced into a defensive war. In the early 1990s Tainui opted to bypass the Waitangi Tribunal and concluded a Treaty claims settlement with the Crown through direct negotiation. In May 1995 the Crown signed a Deed of Settlement with Waikato-Tainui that included cash and land valued at $170 million. The settlement included an admission by the Crown that it had "unjustly confiscated" the land.
Bay of Plenty
On January 17, 1866, the Governor confiscated most Ngāti AwaNgati Awa
Ngāti Awa is a Māori iwi centred in the eastern Bay of Plenty Region of New Zealand.Ngāti Awa comprises 22 hapu , with 15,258 people claiming affiliation to the iwi in 2006. The Ngāti Awa people are primarily located in towns on the Rangitaiki Plain, including Whakatane, Kawerau, Edgecumbe, Te...
land in the Bay of Plenty on the grounds of war and rebellion. The Waitangi Tribunal noted there was a "popular belief" the confiscations were punishment for the murder of James Te Mautaranui Fulloon, an officer of the Crown, at Whakatane
Whakatane
Whakatane is a town in the eastern Bay of Plenty Region, in the North Island of New Zealand, and is the seat of the Bay of Plenty Regional Council. Whakatane is 90 km east of Tauranga and 89 km north-east of Rotorua, at the mouth of the Whakatane River.The town has a population of , with...
in July 1865, but said the Settlements Act could not be used as a punishment for the crime of murder. In addition, only two or three of 30 Ngāti Awa hapu (sub-tribes) were involved in the murder, the individuals responsible for the murder were already on trial at the time of the confiscation and all resistance was at an end in the area, with local rangatira (chiefs) having taken an oath of allegiance. The most unconscionable of the many ironies in the confiscation was that the main part of the land used for military settlements was at Whakatane
Whakatane
Whakatane is a town in the eastern Bay of Plenty Region, in the North Island of New Zealand, and is the seat of the Bay of Plenty Regional Council. Whakatane is 90 km east of Tauranga and 89 km north-east of Rotorua, at the mouth of the Whakatane River.The town has a population of , with...
, on the land of the most innocent. The tribunal concluded: "We do not think it is at all established that there was a war in the usual sense. More particularly, we consider that there was no rebellion ... the confiscation was clearly contrary to the Treaty of Waitangi."
Settlement of confiscated lands
Soon after the passing of the Settlements Act in 1863, agents were employed to enlist men for military service in Taranaki from among the gold miners of Otago and Melbourne. Between December 30, 1863 and February 17, 1864 four ships arrived in new Plymouth carrying 489 volunteers. In Taranaki 97800 acres (395.8 km²) were laid out as military settlements with the hope that when men were released from military duty they would remain on their allotments and become permanent settlers. By 1866, when their three years of service was over, many had left Taranaki already, while most of those who did complete their service opted then to sell, leaving no more than 10 per cent of the military settlers on the land. Of the 11 towns laid out north of the Waingongoro River, most had no houses on them, while the most populous, including Normanby, Hawera and Carlyle (PateaPatea
Patea is the third-largest town in South Taranaki, New Zealand. It is on the western bank of the Patea River, 61 kilometres north-west of Wanganui on State Highway 3. Hawera is 27 km to the north-west, and Waverley 17 km to the east. The Patea River flows through the town from the...
), rarely had more than a dozen. The main reason was the inability of the provincial government to provide work for the men, or to build roads and bridges linking the settlements.
Throughout New Zealand the Government had confiscated areas clearly unsuitable for settlement: in Taranaki, they had taken the whole of Mt Taranaki, while in the Bay of Plenty they had confiscated Mt Putauaki, the whole of the Rangitaiki Swamp and other areas of thick bush. Military settlers ultimately took less than 1 per cent of land confiscated from Ngati Awa.
In Taranaki, Māori, often with the tacit consent of the government, later began returning to the lands that had been taken from them. When parts of those lands were subsequently wanted for settlement, compensation payments were made to Māori users – in government eyes, a bribe to keep the peace rather than a purchase price – and deeds of cession were signed, transferring title to Europeans. In 1880 spiritual leader Te Whiti o Rongomai
Te Whiti o Rongomai
Te Whiti o Rongomai III was a Māori spiritual leader and founder of the village of Parihaka, in New Zealand's Taranaki region.-Biography:...
judged that such payments meant the confiscations were a sham and began to actively claim back confiscated land that had not been used by the government, proceeding on the basis that Māori only had to enter the land and plough it to re-establish their rights. Te Whiti rejected cession payments and bribes and his followers persistently pulled up surveyors' pegs and obstructed road makers, initially in central Taranaki and later throughout New Zealand, with ploughmen's campaigns. Tension led to the armed police raid on Parihaka
Parihaka
Parihaka is a small community in Taranaki Region, New Zealand, located between Mount Taranaki and the Tasman Sea. In the 1870s and 1880s the settlement, then reputed to be the largest Māori village in New Zealand, became the centre of a major campaign of non-violent resistance to European...
, Taranaki, in November 1881 and the expulsion of 2000 men, women and children, followed by the destruction of the village.