The Waitangi Tribunal today released a report saying the Crown's refusal to recognise Maori autonomy resulted in a loss of authority and control over their central North Island lands and natural resources.
The tribunal's first volume of its report on Central North Island Treaty of Waitangi claims comes
after a four-year inquiry.
It considered claims about the political relationship between Central North Island Maori and the Crown from the time of the treaty up to 1920.
The inquiry was the largest the tribunal has undertaken, covering historical and contemporary claims of more than 120 claimants from the Bay of Plenty coast and Rotorua to south of Lake Taupo and including most of the Kaingaroa forest.
The first stage of the inquiry focused on "big picture issues" affecting most claimants in the region.
Over nine months in 2005 the tribunal, presided over by Judge Caren Fox, heard from more than 300 witnesses with 50 Central North Island iwi and hapu participating.
The tribunal upheld the claimants' main allegation that the root of the treaty breaches was the Crown's failure to give effect to the treaty guarantees to Maori autonomy and the same rights and powers of self government as were enjoyed by the settlers from the mid-19th century.
The tribunal considered that "giving effect to these guarantees could have been entirely practicable if existing models of community, regional and national autonomy had been adapted to suit the circumstances of Maori".
It found that for hapu and iwi of the Central North Island, the Crown's refusal to recognise Maori autonomy resulted in a loss of authority and control over their lands and natural resources, including waterways and geothermal resources. Such loss of control had lasting effects on the development of Central North Island Maori in tourism, forestry, power generation and farming.
The tribunal made no general recommendations about possible treaty. settlements.
- NZPA
