The Land Court

While hostilities continued in the Tauranga Taranaki and East Coast the Settler government began to legislate to ensure even more land could be made available. They did so by ignoring any obligation under Article 2 or 3 of the Treaty.

Judith Binney has called this an "Act of War' and she is probably right.

The Native Land Court was established under legislation in 1862 and then 1865. It had two main aims. The First was to identify and establish ownership of Maori land and convert the communal form of ownership to a European title. Once under title it could then be sold to Settlers. Henry Sewell said it was designed to undermine and destroy Maori culture (detribalise) by ridding them of the communist thread that ran through all of their institutions.

The Court could investigate ownership and establish title - both a long protracted and expensive process. The Owners could then present their decision to the governor to recieve a freehold title.

No matter how large the area under investigation it could be placed into the control of only 10 trustees. Later legislation would shift the ownership of the land to the trustee who were then free to do as they wished with it, without consulting the larger group of 'owners'.

No matter Settlers could now acquire land outside the confiscation areas.

By 1872 the Court had investigated 5m acres of land.

The 1873 Land Act went further making every member of the tribe an owner on a title. Land could be sold if a simple majority agreed to it.

In the Hawkes Bay, groups of claimants, surveyors and shopkeepers exploited the system to effectively steal Maori land by forcing them to defend often dubious claims and rorting them through the debts this incurred.