In this section of the Deed of Settlement the Crown outlines all of the breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, as the apology for the grievances:
1. The Crown acknowledges that it failed to deal with the long-standing grievances of Ngātikahu ki Whangaroa in an appropriate way, and that recognition of these grievances is long overdue.
2. The Crown acknowledges that, in approving pre-Treaty land transactions, issuing grants to settlers for some of these lands, and retaining 11,000 acres of ‘surplus land’ from transactions in the Ngātikahu ki Whangaroa rohe, it:
- failed to consider the customary rights and interests of Ngātikahu ki Whangaroa in these lands; and
- failed to assess the impact of the alienation of these lands on Ngātikahu ki Whangaroa; and
- failed to survey most of these lands.
The Crown acknowledges that these failures breached te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles.
3. The Crown acknowledges that:
- Ngātikahu ki Whangaroa have long disputed the extent of the Crown’s 1863 Mangonui purchase;
- the Crown did not challenge the Native Land Court’s 1870 award to Māori of nearly 4,000 acres to Taemāro within the period provided in the native land laws for appealing court decisions; and
- the Māori owners of Taemāro subsequently protested that the Crown coerced them into surrendering the title for the block in return for reserves of approximately 750 acres at Taemāro and Waimahana; and
- the Taemāro Reserve did not include all areas occupied and cultivated by Ngātikahu ki Whangaroa; and
- the Crown’s failure to ensure Ngātikahu ki Whangaroa retained adequate reserves within the boundaries of the Mangonui purchase breached te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles.
4. The Crown acknowledges that:
- the operation and impact of the native land laws, in particular the awarding of the important Ngātikahu ki Whangaroa blocks of Taemāro, Taupō, Matakaraka B and Motukahakaha to individuals rather than iwi or hapū, made Ngātikahu ki Whangaroa lands more susceptible to partition, fragmentation and alienation; and
- this contributed to the erosion of Ngātikahu ki Whangaroa tribal structures, which were based on collective tribal custodianship of land. The Crown’s failure to protect the tribal structures of Ngātikahu ki Whangaroa was a breach of te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles.
5. The Crown acknowledges that the compulsory taking of more than 700 acres for a scenic reserve at Ranfurly Bay in 1919:
- caused Ngāti Kaitangata to lose many sites of significance and important urupā and wāhi tapu sites, including an urupā which was partitioned from the surrounding land by the Native Land Court in 1917; and
- deprived the owners of the significant income they had expected to receive from a 30-year lease of this land; and
- was excessive and therefore a breach of te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles.
6. The Crown acknowledges that it took six acres at Matakaraka in 1946 for public works which it retained long after the land was no longer used for the purpose for which it was acquired, and only returned the land in 1990 following appeals from descendants of the block’s former owners.
7. The Crown acknowledges that it continued negotiations to purchase Matakaraka B despite a meeting of assembled owners informing the Crown in 1949 that they wished to retain this land. In 1958 the majority of Matakaraka B was declared Crown land after a small number of owners had approved a Crown offer at an assembled owners’ meeting in 1952.
8. The Crown acknowledges that the cumulative effect of it acts and omissions, including Crown purchases, public works takings and the operation and impact of the native land laws, left Ngātikahu ki Whangaroa virtually landless. The Crown’s failure to ensure that Ngātikahu ki Whangaroa retained sufficient land for their present and future needs was a breach of te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi and its principles.