| Popis: |
Confiscation was always on the Government’s agenda; only an excuse had been needed. From the start, the leading politicians were confusing police action with a punitive expedition, and in October 1865 discussion in Parliament revealed that the ministry already intended ‘to confiscate largely’ at Opotiki. The Compensation Court operated in the region and heard claims over large tracts, enunciating doctrines such as the 1840 Rule that would have wide implications for dealings with general Maori land. In 1927, a royal commission of inquiry was constituted under Sir William Sim, a Supreme Court judge, to investigate a number of Maori land grievances, and especially those relating to the confiscations. Its terms of reference were very limited, though, as it could consider only whether confiscations ‘exceeded in quantity what was fair and just’, not whether they should have occurred at all. The confiscation of Maori land was conducted under legislation that was ill-conceived in itself. |
