Tribunal hearings resume in Foxton
The Nga¯ti Raukawa iwi confederation has resumed presenting their treaty claims to thewaitangi Tribunal at Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom multi-cultural centre in Foxton.
This is the fifth week of hearings for the Manawatu¯ Ki Porirua District Inquiry, which is about the historical sale of the Rangitı¯kei-manawatu¯ block, which Nga¯ti Raukawa claims was not done legitimately.
Iwi and hapu¯ from Himatangi and Foxton through to Otaki will present their submissions this week to one of the last big treaty claims in Aotearoa.
Involved in this hearing are Nga¯ti Turanga and Nga¯ti Teaunga¯ti Rakau from the Himatangi area.
Much of the evidence given yesterday was placed under a ra¯hui.
The Shannon-based hapu¯ ofnga¯ti Whakatere will present their case tomorrow and Thursday. Nga¯ti Tukorehe and Te Mateawa will follow.
The last group comprises Nga¯ Hapu¯ o Kereru from the Koputaroa area.
On Friday owners of the land-locked Koputara Block are presenting their claim.
They have only recently gained access to their block, which they were locked out of for 120 years.
Members of five Nga¯ti Raukawa iwi or hapu¯ (Nga¯ti Parewahawaha, Nga¯ti Turanga, Nga¯ti Tukorehe, Nga¯ti Kikopiri and Nga¯ti Pareraukawa) are owners of the block.
They had battled for many years to get access to the block, which is land-locked by a strip of land about 10-metres wide running around the block.
Koputara was set aside as a reserve in the 1870s, but became land locked after the land around it was sold and access wasn’t provided.
The land included part of Lake Koputara and stream, and is about 140 hectares.
As part of the hearing, the tribunal visited the lake on Sunday.
This is the fifth of 12 designated hearings that started at Hato Paora College north of Feilding last year and will progress to Horowhenua and Otaki.
The original claim, Wai 113, was lodged in 1989 by kauma¯tua Whata Karaka Davis, Nga¯rongo Iwikatea Nicholson, Te Maharanui Jacob and Pita Richardson.