ECONOMIC LOSS

We have a lot of evidence about the social impact of land loss on indigenous peoples as the result of land seizures by their colonisers.  In this country alone, there’s a plethora of well-researched and reviewed reports of negative statistics for Māori in health, housing, education, justice and employment.  But there is hardly any similar research and reportage of the economic losses involved.

In 2012, Te Rūnanga-ā-Iwi o Ngāti Kahu commissioned Dr Ganesh Nana, Kel Sanderson and Adrian Slack of BERL Economics to assess the economic loss suffered by Ngāti Kahu as a result of Crown actions or omissions up to 1865, the loss having as its main cause the separation of Ngāti Kahu from our lands.

To quantify the prejudice suffered as a consequence of those seizures, BERL used as their measure the 249,443.5 acres of Ngāti Kahu land seized by the Crown in the period up to 1865.  The fundamental economic components of their assessment were the loss of capital value, and the loss of the flow of incomes from those lands since 1865.

This week we will look at the loss of capital value to Ngāti Kahu of our lands by taking the actual level of the recorded “consideration” the Crown paid for them over the period 1856 to 1865, comparing those with the land values at that time, and then noting the difference (shortfall) between the two.  

Using information from the New Zealand Official Year Book, BERL calculated the average value (in today’s dollars) of 100 acres of unimproved land in the Mangōnui County at various dates in the past listed below.

1840:  100 acres sold for $12.93

1865:  100 acres sold for $15.31

1878:  100 acres sold for $17.81

1891:  100 acres sold for $21.58

Using these figures, BERL was then able to assess that the total 249,443.5.5 acres (100,944.8 hectares) of seized Ngāti Kahu lands would have been valued at £32,252 ($64,504) in 1840, £ 35,936 ($71,872) in 1856, £ 38,189 ($76,378) in 1865, £ 44,414 ($88,828) in 1878, and £ 53,825 ($107,650) in 1891.

Depending on the date of seizure, BERL was then able to calculate the shortfall between the “consideration” paid by the Crown and the calculated value of the land at the time of its seizure.  The full details for each Ngāti Kahu land block seized can be read on https://www.docdroid.net/XWkaxHo/06-august-2012-berl-report-for-ngati-kahu-on-economic-impact-of-crown-breaches-of-te-tiriti.pdf  But, for the sake of space, I provide only the global figures listed below.

		Acres	“consideration” paid	Value at date of loss	Shortfall at date of land loss	Value of shortfall compounded to 1865
Total land loss between the period pre-treaty to 1865		249,444	7,204	35,972	28,768	39,919
Total value of land loss compounded to 1865						39,919

These show that there was a significant loss of capital value imposed on Ngāti Kahu by the Crown. 

Next week we will look at the loss to Ngāti Kahu of the streams of income from the above lands for the period from 1865 until 2012.