In 2016, the Crown recognised the mandate of Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Maru Trust to represent Ngāti Maru in negotiating a comprehensive historical Treaty settlement. The Crown signed Terms of Negotiation with Ngāti Maru on 27 July 2016. On 20 December 2017, the Crown and Ngāti Maru signed an Agreement in Principle which formed the basis for this settlement.

On 17 August 2020, Ngāti Maru and the Crown initialled a Deed of Settlement (Deed). The Deed was then ratified by the people of Ngāti Maru and signed on 27 February 2021 at Tarata. The settlement will be implemented following the passage of settlement legislation.

The Office for Māori Crown Relations – Te Arawhiti, with the support of the Department of Conservation, Land Information New Zealand, and other government agencies, represented the Crown in day-to-day negotiations.

The Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, the Honourable Andrew Little (and his predecessor the Honourable Christopher Finlayson), represented the Crown in high-level negotiations with Ngāti Maru.

The Ngāti Maru rohe is centred on the inland Waitara River valley, east to the Whanganui River and its tributaries and west to Mount Taranaki. For generations, Ngāti Maru cultivated on the fertile river flats, and drew resources from the area’s forests, rivers, and wetlands.

Because of their inland location, Ngāti Maru had limited contact with Europeans during the 1840s and 1850s. Ngāti Maru were not involved in the land dealings which led to war in Taranaki in 1860, and were not directly involved in the subsequent fighting. Their involvement was limited to providing refuge to Wiremu Kingi Te Rangitake, in accordance with the requirements of whanaungatanga. However, when the Crown confiscated huge tracts of Taranaki to punish so called ‘rebels’ in 1865, approximately half of the traditional lands of Ngāti Maru were included. Many of their main kāinga, urupā and wāhi tapu were taken, and some have never been returned.

Following the confiscation, Ngāti Maru continued to live on their lands. In the early 1870s, the Crown attempted to promote European settlement on confiscated land by paying some Ngāti Maru compensation for the rights that the confiscation had extinguished. These ‘deeds of cession’, covering around 60,000 acres, created significant divisions within the iwi, compounding the damage already caused by the loss of land.

Much of the remaining Ngāti Maru land was then put through the Native Land Court. Ngāti Maru had no alternative but to use the Native Land Court if they wanted a title that could be legally recognised and protected from claims by other Māori. A legal title was also necessary if Ngāti Maru wished to lease or sell land. However, the individualisation of customary title made the land more susceptible to alienation, and further damaged tribal cohesion. Ultimately, Ngāti Maru did not retain any of the land awarded to them by the Native Land Court.

In the early 1890s, some Ngāti Maru were virtually landless, and appealed to the Crown for help. The Crown’s response was slow and ineffective. Legislation was not enacted until 1907, and the land ultimately provided to Ngāti Maru was poor and of limited size. An agreement to consolidate individual awards into more economically-viable family holdings was never carried out, and landless Ngāti Maru people not named in the 1907 Acts did not receive any land. Despite further petitions, in 1946 the Crown finally declined to provide any further land for Ngāti Maru. Much of the tribe’s remaining land later came under Public Trustee administration and was subject to perpetual leases that invariably benefitted Pākehā farmers rather than the Ngāti Maru owners.

The extensive loss of Ngāti Maru lands has eroded tribal structures, created severe poverty, and damaged the physical, cultural, and spiritual health of generations of Ngāti Maru people. The intense sense of loss and disconnection is expressed in the following Ngāti Maru lament: Maru Hāhā. Hāhā te whenua. Hāhā te tangata. Maru of extreme loss and breathlessness. The land is deserted. The people are gone and gasping for breath.

Cultural redress is intended to recognise the cultural, historical, spiritual and traditional associations of Ngāti Maru within their area of interest. A range of mechanisms are used to achieve this recognition. This allows Ngāti Maru and the Crown to protect and enhance the conservation values associated with these sites.

Vesting of land

A total of 16 sites of cultural significance will be transferred to Ngāti Maru as cultural redress. Some sites will transfer subject to certain conditions which will protect existing third-party rights, and existing values such as public access and conservation.

The table below(Table 1: Vested in Ngāti Maru) lists the sites and conditions of transfer. Images of each site can be found in the Deed Plans in the Attachments Schedule to the Deed of Settlement.

Statutory acknowledgements and deeds of recognition

A statutory acknowledgement recognises the association between Ngāti Maru and a particular site or area and enhances the iwi’s ability to participate in specified resource management processes. Deeds of recognition oblige the Crown to consult with Ngāti Maru regarding their management of certain areas.

The Crown offers a statutory acknowledgement over the following areas:

• Kirikiri property
• Part Tāngarākau Forest Conservation Area
• Tangarakau River and its tributaries within the area of interest
• Whangamomona River and its tributaries.

The Crown offers a statutory acknowledgement and deed of recognition over the following areas:

• Matau Conservation Area
• Whetu Conservation Area
• Ngatoto Conservation Area
• Part Whangamōmona Forest Conservation Area
• Part Tāngarākau Forest Conservation Area
• Part Waitaanga Conservation Area
• Part Pouiatoa Conservation Area
• Okau Scenic Reserve
• Mataru Scenic Reserve
• Part Rerekapa Falls Recreation Reserve
• Part Moki Conservation Area
• Jury Conservation Area
• Kerekeringa Conservation Area
• Autawa Road Conservation Area
• Kirai Scenic Reserve
• Marginal Strip — Waitara River
• Waitara River and its tributaries within the area of interest
• Manganui River and its tributaries within the area of interest
• Patea River and its tributaries within the area of interest.

Cultural Revitalisation Fund

The deed provides for a fund of $1,023,454 to assist Ngāti Maru with cultural revitalisation.

Joint management agreement

To address the aspirations of the Ngāti Maru to improve the health of the Waitara River, the Crown has agreed to establish a joint management agreement (JMA). A JMA is an existing tool under the Resource Management Act 1991 which provides for the parties (iwi and councils) to jointly perform or exercise any of the local authority’s functions, powers, or duties relating to a natural or physical resource.

The proposed JMA does not create any new co-governance entities. Rather, it seeks to improve the effectiveness of the Taranaki Regional Council’s Waitara River Committee by supplementing its functions to include a role for iwi in environmental monitoring of the river.

The Waitara River Committee was established by the New Plymouth District Council (Waitara Lands) Act 2018 to dispense certain endowment land funds to improve the health of the Waitara River. The Waitara River Committee will be a joint committee comprising equal numbers of representatives nominated by Taranaki Regional Council and by iwi with interests in the river. The proposed monitoring function for the Committee, to be provided for through the settlement legislation of the JMA and Ngāti Maru, will be complementary to the Committee’s current (and sole) function to make decisions about allocating funding.

The proposed JMA also utilises the Waitara River Committee structure to provide a single point for enhanced consultation with all iwi with interests in the river in relation to relevant resource consent applications.

Finally, unrelated to the Waitara River, the JMA will also provide that Taranaki Regional Council will notify Ngāti Maru of any environmental issues arising from abandoned petroleum wells and any consent applications relating to mining activities within their rohe.

Maru Taiao Plan

The deed will provide for a natural resources plan, Maru Taiao, which outlines the values and principles of Ngāti Maru and the resource management issues of significance to Ngāti Maru in relation to the Maru Taiao area. Local authorities must take the Maru Taiao plan into account when they are preparing or reviewing a policy statement or plan under the Resource Management Act 1991.

Pākohe and Pūrani

The deed will provide for the governance entity to authorise members of Ngāti Maru to search for and remove Crown-owned pākohe or pūrangi from riverbeds in public conservation land within the Ngāti Maru area of interest:

• by hand
• without authorisation under conservation legislation
• without a permit under section 8(1)(a) of the Crown Minerals Act 1991, and
• in accordance with the Ngāti Maru cultural materials plan to be agreed with the Department of Conservation.