Background of the Nelson Tenths Case

The Nelson Tenths Case relates to an 1839 agreement made by the New Zealand Company (an entity chartered in the United Kingdom to promote the systematic colonisation of Aotearoa-New Zealand) to purchase land in the districts of Whakatū (Nelson), Waimea, Moutere, Motueka, and Massacre (now Golden) Bay and set aside one tenth of it as endowment land for Māori customary owners.

The land set aside was not for use by the customary owners but was to be held and managed on their behalf. In addition, the New Zealand Company undertook to reserve and protect all Māori occupation lands, urupā (burial lands), and wāhi tapu (areas and sites of cultural significance) from European settlement within the purchase area, which comprised a total of 151,000 acres.

While some reserves were initially set aside, the full one-tenth (15,100 acres) was never reserved, and when the New Zealand Company was dissolved in 1850, the remaining land was transferred to the Crown and eventually leased. Rentals were infrequently reviewed, and, over time, inflation reduced rental returns.

Following protracted legal proceedings over the next century, and requests from Kurahaupō iwi for a reinvestigation into customary ownership, the remnants of the Nelson Tenths were vested in the Wakatū Incorporation in 1977.

In 2017, the Supreme Court ruled that the Crown had a legal duty to honour an agreement made at the time of early European settlement to reserve 15,100 acres of land (the Nelson Tenths reserves) as endowment land for Māori customary owners. This ruling was then handed to the High Court in Wellington to determine the extent of the Crown’s breaches and any remedies.

The most recent legal proceedings for this case ran from August to October 2024. Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō Trust was involved in the litigation to ensure that, if there was an award to the customary owners as a result of the hearing, those customary owners include Kurahaupō iwi tūpuna (and their descendants), who were wrongly excluded from the Nelson Tenths scheme. To this end, the Trust moved from a watching brief to an intervenor seeking to be heard.

During these proceedings Mr Mark Moses and Dr Peter Meihana provided written briefs of evidence identifying a list of Kurahaupō tūpuna customary owners. The Kurahaupō tūpuna list comprises evidence from two groupings. The first was identified in Meihana Kereopa’s evidence at the Nelson Tenths Hearing in 1892. He recalled 27 Kurahaupō tūpuna by name and stated there were more. Not all these tūpuna have surviving lines.

The second grouping came from historical records, which were used to identify tūpuna not mentioned in the first grouping. It included Kurahaupō spouses and children of Ngati Koata, Ngāti Rārua, Ngāti Tama tūpuna included in the Tenths beneficiaries’ lists. Again, not all these tūpuna have surviving lines but those that do have been identified. The tūpuna have been organised into descent groups and their whakapapa relationships have been compiled to illustrate their relationships.

On 31 October 2024, the High Court released its decision regarding Stafford v Attorney General. The decision strongly favours the customary owners of the Nelson Tenths; however, any appeal is due on 27 November 2024 with any cross-appeal likely to be filed before December-end 2024. Te Here-ā-Nuku Working Group, which has been set up to consider, among other things, how to advance any settlement or redress, will take some time to process the detail of the decision and decide next steps.

For whānau wishing to view the evidence supplied by Dr Peter Meihana and Mark Moses on behalf of Kurahaupō customary owners, this will be available on request from the Trust offices.

Email: office@ngatiapakiterato.iwi.nz

Call +64 3 578 9695

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