{"story":["On 5 May 1863 Premier Alfred Domett sent Governor George Grey a memorandum proposing that Māori in a 'state of rebellion' have their lands confiscated as a punishment. As his troops invaded Waikato in July, Grey warned that Māori who took up arms against the Crown would forfeit the 'right to the possession of their lands guaranteed to them by the Treaty of Waitangi'. The New Zealand Settlements Act, assented to on 3 December 1863, gave confiscation what NZHistory calls 'a cloak of legitimacy'. Wherever the Governor in Council was satisfied that a tribe, or part of one, had been 'engaged in rebellion' since 1 January 1863, he could proclaim a district and take land within it, which then became Crown land. Anyone who had fought the Crown, or 'aided assisted or comforted' those who had, was denied compensation. Money from selling the land was to repay the cost of suppressing the 'insurrection' and of founding settlements, including farms for military settlers. NZHistory notes that the Act's title suggested European settlement, but its intention was to punish Māori by confiscating their lands.","The first proclamation was made in December 1864. Over the next three years five districts were proclaimed under the Act: Taranaki, Waikato, Tauranga, the eastern Bay of Plenty and Mōhaka–Waikare in Hawke's Bay. Land in Poverty Bay was taken under separate legislation. Confiscation fell on tribes that had fought the government and also on some that had fought as its allies. In Waikato the confiscated area included land occupied by neutral tribes and one-third of the land of Ngāti Hauā, while Ngāti Maniapoto, whose land was hard to reach and not considered valuable, largely escaped. The Waikato area first taken was 1,202,172 acres; about 314,364 acres were later 'returned' to Māori judged not to have rebelled, leaving 887,808 acres. In Taranaki, by 1865 about 2 million acres, from Pukearuhe in the north to the Waitōtara River in the south, had been seized, at least on paper. The most severe effects fell on Waikato-Tainui, the Taranaki tribes, Ngāi Te Rangi, and Ngāti Awa, Whakatōhea and Tūhoe in the eastern Bay of Plenty (see Gate Pā — Pukehinahina).","Totals for the whole confiscation differ widely, partly because some count land later returned and some do not. Te Ara gives about 1 million hectares including returned land in one article, and 1.3 million hectares in another. NZHistory gives more than 4 million acres (16,200 sq km) in one place and about 1.5 million acres (607,500 ha) in another. NZHistory says about half the land was later paid for or returned; Te Ara says compensation courts returned about 530,000 hectares. Returned land was granted to individuals under Crown title rather than to tribes under customary title, and often not to its original owners. At Tauranga much of the 'returned' area was bought by the Crown soon afterwards. Critics spoke out at the time. In 1863 Sir William Martin, the former chief justice, argued from the history of Ireland that confiscating private land produced only a 'brooding sense of wrong', and by 1869 Donald McLean, then native minister, had concluded that the confiscations were an expensive mistake.","NZHistory says raupatu prolonged Māori resistance, partly because many so-called loyalists found their own land included. The Pai Mārire faith drew many converts as military settlers occupied confiscated land. The Māori King, Tāwhiao, would not make peace until all the confiscated land was returned. In 1926 the Sim Commission found that the Waikato confiscation had been excessive, and in 1946 Waikato accepted an annual payment that the government treated as full and final. Waikato did not. The Waitangi Tribunal's Manukau report later stated that 'the Tainui people of the Waikato never rebelled'. Te Ara notes that reparations for the confiscations did not begin in earnest until the 1990s. In May 1995 the Crown signed a Deed of Settlement with Waikato-Tainui that included a formal apology and cash and land valued at $170 million. Waitangi Tribunal inquiries and settlements for other iwi have followed."],"sources":[{"title":"Raupatu","url":"https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/the-maori-king-movement-1860-94/raupatu-confiscations","publisher":"NZHistory, Manatū Taonga"},{"title":"Slide to war","url":"https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/treaty/the-treaty-in-practice/slide-to-war","publisher":"NZHistory, Manatū Taonga"},{"title":"The Waikato-Tainui claim","url":"https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/treaty/the-treaty-in-practice/waikato-tainui","publisher":"NZHistory, Manatū Taonga"},{"title":"Treaty events 1850-99","url":"https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/treaty/treaty-timeline/treaty-events-1850-99","publisher":"NZHistory, Manatū Taonga"},{"title":"Te tango whenua – Māori land alienation – Raupatu – confiscations","url":"https://teara.govt.nz/en/te-tango-whenua-maori-land-alienation/page-4","publisher":"Te Ara — the Encyclopedia of New Zealand"},{"title":"Te ture – Māori and legislation – Laws affecting Māori land","url":"https://teara.govt.nz/en/te-ture-maori-and-legislation/page-2","publisher":"Te Ara — the Encyclopedia of New Zealand"},{"title":"New Zealand Wars – Long-term impact","url":"https://teara.govt.nz/en/new-zealand-wars/page-11","publisher":"Te Ara — the Encyclopedia of New Zealand"},{"title":"Taranaki region – Māori–Pākehā conflict","url":"https://teara.govt.nz/en/taranaki-region/page-8","publisher":"Te Ara — the Encyclopedia of New Zealand"},{"title":"New Zealand Settlements Act 1863","url":"https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1863/0008/latest/whole.html","publisher":"New Zealand Legislation"}]}