March 27, 2024
Tribunal slams crown for landlocked reserve
The Waitangi Tribunal has recommended a group of hapu near Foxton be compensated for being denied use of their land for almost 150 years.
In its Kōpūtara Priority Report released today, the tribunal says the crown failed to grant title to a reserve at Lake Kōpūtara near Foxton and Hīmatangi Beach which was set aside from the 1870 purchase of 240,000 acres in Rangitikei and Manawatu.
The claimants eventually got title in 1964, but they didn’t get physical access until 2016, because the crown granted all the land surrounding the reserve to private owners.
The lake was over-drained for the Himatangi Drainage Scheme, causing serious sand shift which was made worse when the army used the reserve as a live shell range during the 1940s and 50s.
The tribunal says the crown has acknowledged its actions impacted the economic, social, and cultural well-being of the claimants, who include Ngāti Parewahawaha, Ngāti Pareraukawa, Ngāti Kikopiri, Ngāti Tūranga, and Ngāti Tukorehe.