FURTHER FLASH TERMS FOR THEFT

In the early years after signing the 1840 Te Tiriti o Waitangi with our tupuna, the Crown and its Governments used three different but inter-related pieces of paper to steal Ngati Kahu lands. 

Last week we looked at ‘Crown grants’.  This week we look at ‘surplus land’ and ‘scrip’ which were two further flash terms for theft.  To understand what they were in reality we need to again consider the background and the work of the Government-appointed Old Land Claims Commissioners; Edward Godfrey in 1843, and Francis Dillon Bell in 1856. 

In reality, ‘scrip’ was a piece of paper that the Government gave to a European who had wrongly claimed Ngati Kahu land. It promised that he could have some of Ngāti Whātua’s lands in the new town of Auckland instead.   

There isn't space enough in this article to cover every instance of the Crown’s ‘scrip’ thefts in Ngati Kahu, so one representative case will have to do.

At Kaimaumau, land which belongs to Te Paatu and Patukoraha, the Government paid out the European claimant, William Macky, in ‘scrip’ that entitled him to 225 acres in Auckland.  It then took over the original false claim to more than 1000 acres in Kaimaumau, and that land was later included in the Government’s theft of the 13,555 acre Wharemaru block.

Now we turn to ‘surplus lands’.  In 1856, the Government’s Land Claims Settlement Act set up a further Commission under Francis Dillon Bell to survey the original tuku whenua.  The surveys identified how much land the European ‘grantees’ could keep, when in fact it still belonged to the hapū who had allocated it.

In reality, ‘surplus’ land was any additional land over and above what the European had wrongfully claimed.  But instead of returning or leaving it to the hapu owners, the Government instead called it ‘surplus’ and stole it.  

Again this article cannot cover every instance of ‘surplus land’ thefts in Ngati Kahu, so the following representative cases must do.  

At Kauhoehoe, which belongs to Te Whānau Moana and Te Rorohuri, the Government gave the European politician, Walter Brodie, a piece of paper which recorded 947.5 acres, and then Bell stole a further 378.5 acres as ‘surplus’. At Mangatete, land which belongs to Patukōraha, the Government gave the European missionary, James Davis, a piece of paper which recorded 466 acres, and Bell then stole a massive 4,880 acres as ‘surplus’.

All in all, between 1840 and 1865, the Government is known to have stolen 25,096 acres from Ngati Kahu using ‘Crown grants’, plus a further 47,534 acres using ‘scrip’ and ‘surplus lands’.  It then either fenced or gave away some of those stolen land to European immigrants, and kept the rest for later disposal.

Ironically, under its own Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act 2009, thieves who are successfully prosecuted stand to be jailed and stripped of any assets they've gained as a result of their crimes and, arguably, under its own Crimes Act 1961 the Government’s use of ‘Crown grants’, ‘scrip’ and ‘surplus lands’ meets the definition of theft.  

However, as bad as they were, those crimes were just the first waves of what was to become a tsunami of further flash terms for theft by the Government.