Wakatu takes High Court action over land claim

Wakatu Incorporation has filed a claim against the Crown on behalf of the Nelson families seeking compensation to restore the shortfall in the “Tenth Reserves”.

The claim, filed in the High Court at Nelson, was made by Wakatu acting as trustee of the original owners of the Nelson region Tenth Reserves. Wakatu is suing the Crown for breaches of fiduciary duty, trust and good faith in its dealings with the Tenths beneficial owners.

The claim relates to the Crown’s failure to ensure one tenth of land taken from the original 254 owners of Nelson, Motueka and Golden Bay for European settlement would be reserved in trust for their direct descendants. The Crown has failed to remedy this shortfall in the Tenths Reserves for over 150 years. James Wheeler, a spokesperson for the families says the Crown abused its position of Trustee of our lands and was unjustly enriched through its receipt of the shortfall of the Tenths, when it received the balance of the New Zealand Company land after its collapse.

As part of the Nelson settlement of the 1840s, the New Zealand Company promised it would reserve and hold in trust one-tenth of the land for the benefit of our families. In 1845, the New Zealand Company was awarded 151,000 acres of Nelson region land. Maori were awarded their pa, burial grounds and cultivations, and one-tenth of the 151,000 acres.

The New Zealand Company negotiated for more land and the Nelson settlement ended up totalling around 172,000 acres. Later maps of New Zealand Company show as much as 450,000 acres may have been taken.

By 1850 only 3,953 acres were set aside as Tenths Reserves. Of those 3,953 acres, only 1,626 acres of Tenths Reserves remained by the time Wakatu Incorporation was established in 1977 to receive the remnants of the Tenths on behalf of the beneficial owners.

The Crown has 25 working days to file a statement of defence.

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