Smith Murray: Ngaa Rauru Kiitahi Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading 
Smith Murray: Ngaa Rauru Kiitahi Claims Settlement Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:623;Page:18395] 
MURRAY SMITH (United Future) 
: 
 United Future is very pleased to support the first reading of the Ngaa Rauru Kiitahi Claims Settlement Bill and congratulates Nga Rauru Kitahi on reaching this milestone. I note that it is 150 years since the grievances have been sought to be addressed—a long time—and I give my greetings to the negotiating team led by Marty Davis and congratulate them on the achievement they have reached. 
United Future members have pushed for a speeding up of the historical grievance settlements ever since we arrived in this House. We are pleased that as a result of our efforts more resources have been allocated to the process by this Government including a second claims negotiation team. The fruits of that are now being seen. We believe there is still room to speed up more and we will need to do so if the goal of resolution of all historical grievances within 10 to 15 years is to be achieved. I am particularly keen and grateful to be able to speak to this bill and to support it because of my own ancestral links to the South Taranaki area and the fact that my tipuna my great-grandparents in particular farmed in and around Maxwell. They would have been there at the time when a lot of these grievances arose. I want personally to extend the apologies of my own whanau and tipuna for the events that caused such hurt and injury to the people of Nga Rauru and to give that apology personally so that I can recognise it on behalf of my own family. 
I do not know a great deal of my own family history in that area but my family and my tipuna may well have been involved in military activity—certainly they were involved in farming—and may have been beneficiaries of some of the land confiscations and to the extent that that happened I want to apologise. 
The bill refers to a number of the grievances that Nga Rauru Kitahi have had and has general references to the legitimate grievances that they have had that arose out of the Taranaki wars—the labelling of some of Nga Rauru Kitahi rebels their arrest and internment in the South Island the indiscriminate confiscations of their land the inadequate compensation awarded later and the delays in payment the lack of consultation in that process the scorched-earth policy the Crown adopted that resulted in the destruction of the people’s homes and crops and the effective landlessness that resulted from that. 
We are also very aware of the events of Parihaka and acknowledge that Nga Rauru Kitahi were the people involved directly in the injustices that were caused there. However there is one incident in particular that struck a chord with me—the incident in Handley’s Woolshed. It is worth this House again dwelling on the specific facts of that situation because I think it shows some of the worst excesses of the way that the Crown treated Nga Rauru Kitahi and Maori generally. 
On 27 November 1868 a colonial militia led by Sergeant Maxwell encountered a group of unarmed Nga Rauru Kitahi and Taranaki iwi children at Handley’s Woolshed near Waitotara. The children were from the Tauranga-Ika Pa the eldest of whom was about 10 years old. In an unprovoked attack the militia fired on the group pursued them on horseback and attacked them with sabres. The children were wounded and killed. It seems to me a huge injustice adding insult to injury that we then find that the town of Maxwell was named after the same Sergeant Maxwell and that the events that occurred in 1868 have been recorded in posterity almost by naming the town after the sergeant who perpetrated them. I personally am very keen to see the pursuit of the renaming of the town of Maxwell. I am aware that the Crown has declined to do that as part of the settlement. I accept that there needs to be consultation with the community but I would really encourage the local community to get behind the support to change the name of Maxwell so that that injustice and insult can be put behind us and a name more fittingly reflecting the land of Nga Rauru Kitahi can be adopted. 
I was delighted to see that the ratification of this settlement agreement and the ratification of the governing authority was among the highest if not the highest that has been achieved during the historical grievance process. Ninety-two percent of people participating have approved the settlement and 94 percent have approved the governance entity. I congratulate the work that Nga Rauru Kitahi have done in getting that result and commend the people for the unity that shows in their approach to this settlement. 
One of the unique features of this settlement has been a paepae rangatira a new concept a chief-to-chief forum that will bring about an annual hui between the Minister of Maori Affairs the Minister in charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations and the chiefs of Nga Rauru Kitahi to discuss issues of concern they may have. In other settlements we have had provision for consultation between iwi and the Crown. This settlement goes further by providing for a very specific forum to be dealt with on an annual basis in order to ensure that Nga Rauru Kitahi are being heard and that any issues they have are being dealt with on a timely basis. 
I am also aware that part of the settlement proceeds include the transfer of ownership of the bed of Lake Moumahaki—a lake of some 50 hectares that is of particular importance to Nga Rauru Kitahi because of the waka that were scuttled in the lake by the Crown and the loss of taonga that the iwi have suffered as a result. I understand that a prophecy was given about that time: “When our taonga returns our grievance will be over.” I hope that the return of this lake and the waka that are in it will go a long way towards the fulfilment of that prophecy and bring about a genuine resolution of the grievance and a feeling of contentment and settlement among the iwi that their concerns have at last been heard and that they can move on in strength and in confidence. 
I am pleased also to learn that the access to the lake through a paper road over the land owned by the Murphy family has had an amicable resolution. I understand there was some apprehension in terms of the Murphy family’s support of the Crown’s endeavours but they have been supportive and there are signs that there will be a very positive relationship between the Pakeha families who own the land around the lake and the iwi itself. That is pleasing to see too because it is evidence of a direct positive relationship that reflects the unity between Pakeha and Maori and the Crown and Maori that this bill seeks to exemplify. 
I commend Nga Rauru Kitahi and their future as they see the fruits of this settlement and are able to get on and rebuild as far as they can the lives that they had before these things were taken. I acknowledge that Nga Rauru Kitahi like all iwi who have accepted settlements have accepted far less than was taken from them. It is to their tremendous credit that they have bent over backwards to provide a resolution and to agree to a resolution that can put these grievances behind us all as a nation and allow us to go forward as a nation together. 
I personally am not unhappy if there are some small aspects of this settlement that people may have some question marks over because I think what Nga Rauru Kitahi are accepting here overall is far less than what was stolen from them. Some of it of course can never be replaced—the loss of lives the loss of mana and the loss of a large part of their land. But at least this goes some way towards it. I commend this bill to the House and to the Maori Affairs Committee.