Kaikou 3 Lot 36
Area Acres 120.1.37
Total Shares 160.000
Ataiti's Share 160.000
Partition Date 22 April 1912
kAIKOU X
The taking of Kaikou X land for the Te Horo development scheme is a major source of grievance for our whanau. The Kaikou X land is by our whanau kainga Manawatopu. The Kaikou X block was wholly owned by our mother and her siblings Moetahi and Ngarongoa Ihaia Hoterene at the time it was taken for the development scheme. All the siblings strongly opposed the inclusion of Kaikou X in the scheme, however, against their wishes Kaikou X was ultimately included in the scheme.
We believe these lands were specifically targeted by Maori Affairs as the lands were deemed necessary for the economic viability of the scheme. We will cover in more depth the lengths our mother went to have her lands in the Kaikou X block excluded from the scheme. However, what is important for the Tribunal to remember is that the Kaikou X amalgamation was never about the Te Horo development scheme, it was about our mother and her sibling’s succession to land.
The Kaikou X block was created upon an application by our mother in 1963 to amalgamate land blocks of Ganny Heeni. Since Ganny Heeni’s passing in 1956, the whanau had many ongoing conversations about how to proceed with the succession. It was a long conversation about succeeding to the lands and trying to get the split right between the surviving siblings.
It is important to understand the nature of the Kaikou X land and the dynamics among the whanau to understand how the split was agreed. It was really logic and convenience that determined how the Kaikou X was to be divided. The division of the land was to be equal for all of the siblings. At that time, Uncle Hama’s homestead was on the Kaikou X land by the main road at the Northern end, opposite Manawatopu, so he was to receive land in that location. Just south of Uncle Hama’s homestead, but still on the Kaikou X block, maybe 500 metres away, is Aunty Nga’s homestead, she therefore received land in that area. Across the road is Aunty Rosie’s land and her children now live there. Our mother’s homestead is back towards the chapel at Pipiwai and she therefore deferred to her siblings and accepted that she would have the lands in the back blocks of Kaikou X, because she did not live on that particular block and did not want to disturb how they were living. Our mother’s lands in Kaikou X were, and continue to be, inaccessible. Access was by agreement in those days and it was not challenged. More recently, there have been significant disagreements amongst whanau and Ganny Heenis mokopuna around land ownership and access to these back blocks.
It was agreed that the family would support our mother to organise the division of the lands, as our mother was familiar with adminstration processes and was often called upon by her own mother to carry out the affairs of the whanau. Our mother then informed the Court of what the family had agreed upon and how Kaikou X was going to be divided among the siblings once the blocks had been amalgamated.
On 31 July 1963, the Court granted the application and ordered the amalgamation of the following blocks to form Kaikou X:
Shortly after the amalgamation order, our mother sought to have the agreed split of Kaikou X confirmed by the Maori Land Court. On 23 December 1963, the Maori Land Court wrote to our mother informing her that she needed to instruct a surveyor in order to complete the partition:
Dear Mrs Armstrong 23 December 1963
Kaikou X
I enclose a copy of the Court’s Minute of 10 December concerning the above matter.
Furthermore, I write to stress the need for immediate action by yourself and other members of your family to instruct a surveyor to do the necessary plans. If this is done it will then enable the Court to consider any proposals which you have agreed upon for the satisfactory partitioning of your family interests.
Your attention is drawn also to the fact that the matter has been adjourned to the next Whangarei Court sittings as a final adjournment and unless satisfactorily disposed of then by the making of Orders, the matter will be dismissed without further ado.
A copy of this letter and attached minutes have also be sent to Mrs Ropere Paraima, Mrs Ngarongoa te Rehu Hoterene, Mr Moetahi Hoterene all of Pipiwai.
Yours faithfully,
K. Hui.
The matter remained undetermined and our mother instructed lawyers to look into the matter further. On 16 August 1965, lawyer Robert W. Gill wrote to our mother confirming that a surveyor needed to be instructed to survey the lands:
Dear Madam, 16 August, 1965
re: Kaikou X
We have searched the records of the Maori Land Court and find there is an Application for Partition before the Court and this will be advertised in the next Whangarei panui. It seems that certain evidence has been given, but there was some disagreement as to the areas to be allocated to each of the shareholders in this block. We understand from you that all shareholders have now agreed to the partition, and to this end you should instruct a surveyor to prepare a plan for the Court to divide the land as agreed, and showing the existing house sites and occupations. If you wish us to appear in the Maori Land Court in support of this application or wish us to take any further steps in this matter, would you please pay into our office the sum of £26.5. – on account of our costs.
Yours faithfully,
KEETON AND GILL
Robert W.Gill
A further adjournment of the proceeding took place on 14 September 1965, as our mother instructed her lawyers to adjourn the proceeding because the whanau were not prepared and the surveyor had not yet been contacted.
By this time, Maori Affairs had already sought to amalgamate many blocks for the Te Horo development scheme and the hearing was taking place to hear from owners in opposition to the scheme. This meant our mother’s application to partition the Kaikou X block so that she and her siblings could succeed to the lands as agreed between them, was subsumed by the Maori Affairs application to amalgamate the lands.
At the Maori Land Court hearing in November, 1965, Mr Kerr’s evidence spoke to the condition of the Kaikou X block: The next block is Kaikou X, an area of 756 acres. This block is in three portions. The severance which is west of the main road is the largest area and it has a portion at the front 1/3 of it, fronting the main road, which is an area in terraces and sloping land. This land has been grassed at some stage and it is now reverting to fern, blackberry and scrub. There are boundary fences on this land, some are in reasonable condition but most are not in really stock proof condition. The area at the rear of this is in bush and heavy scrub of medium to steep hill-sides. The severance of Kaikou X which lies between the main road and the Kaikou River, an area of approximately 85 acres, is all river flat. Most of it is in grassland, there are small scattered areas of scrub and fern. There is an area of Kaikou X to the east of the Kaikou River. This is the portion which has been left out of the proposed amalgamation.
As Mr Kerr provided in his evidence, Kaikou X was regarded as good farmland and therefore it was seen as a central block in the proposed development of Pipiwai. There is a consistent reference to Kaikou X throughout the correspondence from Maori Affairs, highlighting that it was specifically targeted for inclusion in the scheme. When we read these things we realise that, in hindsight, our mother would never have been successful in having her lands excluded from the development scheme as some other owners did.
Our mother appeared at the Court hearing on 26 November 1965 in opposition to the amalgamation. She told the court that she was farming the land and wanted to continue to do so: Ataiti Armstrong re sworn: I want my shares partitioned out. I have no house on the land. I am farming part of the land my stock.
However, her opposition was dismissed by the Court and the Court ordered the amalgamation for the scheme with the inclusion of Kaikou X.
KAIKOU X
