Henare Tau: Te Urewera-Tūhoe Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHenare Tau: Te Urewera-Tūhoe Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 22 October 2013. Volume:694;Page:14141. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon TAU HENARE (National): Kia ora. Te mea tuatahi ki aku rangatira Tūhoe tēnā koutou. Ā tēnā koutou i haere mai i tēnei rā nō reira e ōku tuākana tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā koutou katoa.[Thank you.In the first instance greetings to you my Tūhoe elders. Salutations indeed to you who have arrived here collectively today so to my elder brothers sisters and cousins acknowledgments greetings and congratulations to you all.]I thought I might do something different and speak from notes. I want to read to the House and into the record the second schedule of the Urewera District Native Reserve Act 1896. It states: “Second schedule. Premier’s Office Wellington 25th September 1895. To the persons who came hither to represent Tūhoe and who have addressed me with reference to certain matters affecting the tribe. Friends—salutations! In response to your application that I should give you an answer to the matters brought before me and acquaint you with the decision of the Government thereon in fulfilment of my promise I now address this communication to you. In the first place you ask that the rohe-potae of the Tūhoe land—that is to say the country known as that of the Urewera—be permanently determined; and in order to do this that a Commissioner be appointed to define the boundary known as the rohe-potae. I do not see why this cannot be done. I have no objection to that. The boundaries of these lands can be determined by the trig stations that have been erected. You ask also that a Commissioner be appointed to inquire into the title of the persons owning land within the said rohe-potae and to determine the boundaries of land belonging to hapus and persons who consider that the land is theirs his decision to be set down in writing; the Commissioner also to make a sketch-plan of the country to be approved by the Surveyor-General the boundaries of the land belonging to the hapus being determined by landmarks where possible to do so; if not then to be surveyed with the concurrence of the owners of the land. In coming to such a decision the Commissioner must pay due consideration to Native manners and customs and where it is possible to do so he must follow the boundaries of the several hapus each block to be dealt with in a clear and proper manner.In dealing with the title of a person and his family they must be deemed to be joint tenants. When the Commissioner has concluded his investigation into the title of the several blocks then the Maoris who are in a block of land belonging to a hapu mayelect a Local Committee the members of which must not exceed seven in number. This Committee to be an administrative one to act for the owners of the land for the period for which they were elected. The number of these Local Committees should be determined by the number of the hapus and the owners of the blocks of land.You ask further that a General Committee be appointed to deal with the tribal lands generally and that the decisions and proceedings of the said Committee be binding on the Local Committees and hapus; its proceedings to be conducted in accordance with Maori manners and customs. I think that such a Committee should be appointed and in order to give effect to this I agree that each Local Committee or hapu should elect one of their number to be a member of the General Committee all the decisions of the General Committee to be communicated to the Local Committees for their guidance.The regulations for the appointment of a Commissioner and for the election of members of Local Committees and of the General Committee will be communicated later on after an Act has been passed giving effect to what is here set forth which will be explained by the Hon Mr Carroll and Wi Pere member for the Eastern Maori Electoral District to Tūhoe.You also remind me of the promise that I made when I visited you a short time back with reference to the establishment of schools at some of your principal kaingas. As I feel that the education of your children will give you pleasure and that the children will benefit thereby in the time to come the erection of school-buildings will be proceeded with forthwith. I regret very much that this has not been proceeded with sooner but I will give instructions to have it done forthwith.You refer to the road works in your district and ask that certain sections be given for the Maoris to do and that when the roads are finished that certain portions be given to the Maoris to maintain. These requests are reasonable and will be given effect to.As you feel that it would be desirable to provide an additional attraction to European tourists and at the same time provide you with additional sources of food you have asked that arrangements may be made for the introduction of English birds and by stocking the rivers with English fish. By such means you Maoris will be benefited and the rest of the colony as well. I will place myself in communication with the Curator of the fish-ponds at Masterton and ascertain whether there are any English trout that can be supplied to you this year;”—and so on and so forth.As a second-generation urban dweller I always wondered what Tame Iti was on about when he used to refer to the nation of Tūhoe. I always wondered well hang on what about Ngāpuhi? What about everybody else? Why do I only ever hear about the nation of Tūhoe? In the 1860s on rolled through Tūhoe lands one of the biggest confiscations this country has ever seen. In the 1890s there was a bill that set out the rangatiratanga that set out mana Māori Motuhake in a form that we have never seen in a bill. The Prime Minister the Premier in that second schedule to the bill set out what he wanted for Tūhoe and allowed them to have basically from what I read self-governance. Basically it is what I read as being a nation. It set out a Commissioner of Lands. It set out tribal land committees even before we knew about Māori committees and all the sorts of things we have today. It established Tūhoe schools. It even talked about roadworks. We have been doing the “whoa-go” sign for years! Finally it talks about the fish in the lake from Masterton.That is what Tame was on about when I used to hear him talk about what the Tūhoe nation was. So I am really overwhelmed at the fact that we have got to this position. As chairman of the Māori Affairs Committee I cannot wait until we get up to have our first hearing on top of Taiārahia and wherever else they want to take us to school us up on what it is in the bill that makes them want to sign—makes them want to get it over and done with.I am not of the school that thinks we should be looking at the bill and wondering whether it is OK; I am of the school that we should ask Tūhoe whether it is OK. If it is OK then let us get on with it. My wish is that my colleagues on the select committee feel the same way and that as soon as is practically possible we can get the bill back into the House and then on to its Committee stage and third reading and there would be a very good new year’s gift to Tūhoe.But I also have to mention that after the tanks rolled in even before we had tanks in the 1860s the horrible thought that in 1916—you know we talk about the Māori land wars and issues of the 1840s the 1850s the 1860s the 1870s the 1880s and the 1890s and we think that it all ended in that century but it did not. We thought that it ended in 1916 but it did not. Only a couple of years ago—a couple of years ago—why would you send people dressed in black balaclavas and tooled up to the nines into a land into a nation into a country? I say “country” because that is actually what Seddon referred to with regard to the Tūhoe people. [Interruption] I have not heard the bell.The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson): I know. I was so deeply listening Mr Henare that I forgot to press it. So I will give—Hon TAU HENARE: So when you push the bell I will have 2 minutes left. [Bell rung] Thank you very much. It is a country. I have never heard anybody say this but I have heard outside the House reference made to this by my colleague and very dear and very good friend the Hon Annette King who has said sorry. I also want to apologise to my tuakana for those dastardly raids which are a blight on this nation’s history. They are a blight on this nation’s history.Why would you do that? Why would you go out of your way to treat people like that after you have treated them poorly right throughout history? It is a continuation of what I see as just absolutely poor behaviour by a Government. And it does not matter whether it is a Labour Government or a National Government. We are all part and parcel of this Parliament so we bear the shame of that day.I will close by saying this. Apart from Ngāpuhi Tūhoe people are my favourite people. Kia ora.