Waikato-Tainui Anniversary Booklet

9 / 40

hostilities against the Kiingtanga
and the people. By April 1864, after
persistent defence of their lands,
Waikato and their allies had fallen
back before the larger forces of the
Crown and had taken refuge in the
King Country.
By Orders in Council under the
New Zealand Settlements Act 1863,
the Crown unjustly confiscated
approximately 1.2 million acres of
land from the Tainui iwi in order
to punish them and gain control
of the land placed by them under
the protection of the Kiingitanga
(although the Crown subsequently
paid small amounts of monetary
compensation and returned, by
Crown grants, but not under
customary title and generally not
to those who had fought for the
Kiingitanga, approximately one-
quarter of the land confiscated).
Widespread suffering, distress,
and deprivation were caused to
the Waikato iwi (both north and
south of the Mangatawhiri river)
as a result of the war waged
against them, the loss of life, the
destruction of their taonga and
property, and the confiscations
of their lands, and the effects
KIINGITANGA
In 1858 Pootatau Te Wherowhero
was raised up as King to unite
the iwi, and preserve their
rangatiratanga and their economic
and cultural integrity, under his
authority in the face of increasing
settler challenges, Waikato
regarding themselves as principal
kaitiaki of the Kiingitanga and as
remaining so ever since.
Those chiefs who formally
pledged their land to Pootatau
Te Wherowhero gave up ultimate
authority over the land to him,
along with ultimate responsibility
for the well-being of the people,
and through this bound their
communities to the Kiingitanga,
resisting further alienation of
their land.
The New Zealand Government at
the time perceived the Kiingitanga
as a challenge to the Queen's
sovereignty and as a hindrance
to Government land purchase
policies, and did not agree to any
role for, or formal relationship with,
the Kiingitanga.
INVASION, HOSTILITIES,
AND CONFISCATIONS OF
WAIKATO LAND
In July 1863, after considered
preparations by the New
Zealand Government, military
forces of the Crown unjustly
invaded the Waikato south of
the Mangataawhiri river, initiating
The negotiations
between Waikato-
Tainui and the Crown
were conducted in
good faith and with a
generosity of spirit
of the Raupatu have lasted for
generations.
The Kiingitanga has continued
to sustain the people since the
Raupatu, and its leaders have
petitioned the Crown for justice
and for the return of land
since 1865.
ROYAL COMMISSION
A Royal Commission (the Sim
Commission) was appointed in
1926 to consider the confiscations
under the New Zealand
Settlements Act 1863 and
its amendments.
In response to the Sim
Commission's findings and
recommendations, compensation
was granted pursuant to the
Waikato-Maniapoto Maaori
Claims Settlement Act 1946 by
the payment of an annual sum of
money into the Tainui Maaori Trust
Fund, to be administered by the
Tainui Maaori Trust Board for the
benefit of those members of the
Maaori tribes in the Waikato District
whose lands had been confiscated.
WAITANGI TRIBUNAL
In 1985 the Waitangi Tribunal
wrote in the Manukau Report (Wai
8) at page 17: “It can simply be
said that from the contemporary
record of Sir John Gorst in 1864,
from the Report of the Royal
Commission 60 years after that,
and from historical research almost
*Some parts of the Preamble have been removed for publishing purposes.
A full copy of the Preamble can be viewed at
“
7
WAIKATO-TAINUI ANNIVERSARY BOOKLET