A CONQUERED LAND

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 16, 9 April 1927, Page 13

A CONQUERED LAND

history of orakei big tribal fights ONCE UNSAE TO LIVE IN (From Our Resident Reporter.) WELLINGTON, Friday. Th „, e who will shortly settle to a , fI h of domestic quiet in the picturlf „p environment of Auckland s garTn suburb- the prakei block—may “ Tan-are that on the very ground "°' n . which they will tread the I>eace- ? Of industrial progress, the fV 1 i if native warriors once Sowed h °*nrof usion and influential Maori l"ihes warred for supremacy. 1 During the period 1720-1740 the ,hm..s upon which the 640 acres of lßlh £li block is situated was inhabited !?« numerous tribe called Waiohua y 4e'iwi who, about 1741, wore atand practically exterminated by ta Ve Tiou a tribe hitherto living '.Asmara. From this year onward s Te Taou entered into possession of 1,1,1 inomiered lands, including Orakei tUe conquered j ca]led okahu) , ,or : have remained since, except during periods of hostility, during which !? surrounding land was evacuated as heing unsafe to live in. The conquering people during the »rind 1741 to 1830 underwent changes w fusions with other tribes, and at the by 1 "of Governor Hobson's arrival the SaWtants were known as Ngatiwha- .... and comprised the remnants of Te Taou, Ngaoho and Te Uringutu, \L were at that time the sole resist natives on the southern shores cultivations at Auckland and at okahu (Orakei). AN OLD WAR DEPOT

Orakei has always been <l depot oi victualling - place for the native armies operating about the Auckland isthmus, ~nd during the early occupation of New Zealand by Europeans , was used by the natives as a convenient place from which to conduct trade and commercial intercourse with pioneers, and was the last of the land owned by the Ngatiwhatua. ... In 18fi9 the Native Land Coui t, sitting under Judge Fenton, made an exhaustive investigation into the ownership of Orakei. and delivered an important judgment in connection therewith Apihai te Kuwait appeared on behalf of the Te Taou Ngaolio and Uringutu; Hetaraka Takapuna on behalf of Ngatlpaoa (who once con,stored the pas at Orakei), Ngatiniaru, Ngatiwhanaunga and Ngatitamateia, Li o ri Hauroa on behalf of Ngatiteata; Paora te Iwt on behalf of Ngatltamaoho; and Wiremu te tvheoro on behalf of Waikato or Ngatimaho. The court found in favour of Apihai te Kawau, chief of the Te Taou, Ngaoho, and Urlnrutu tribes, upon trust for Apihai te Kawau, Arama Karaka te Maluku, Warena Hengitt. Reweti Tatnahiki, Eruera Faerimu, Paora Tuhaere, 1 itraraena Nganahi, Reihana Terewai, Wiremu Watene, Ngawaka, 1 a utari, Te Ftatu Utukura, Te W'aku Tutiea and Taierau, who represented the original occupants of Orakei. In 1882 a private Act was passed railed the Orakei Native Reserve Act, 1882, which conferred power on the said trustee to lease the Orakei block under certain conditions. Several leases were contracted by Europeans during 1900-3. and those were purchased subsequently by the Crown when acquiring the freehold of the block. TOWN-PLANNING

In 1923. when the Government derided to invite designs for the laying out of the block, Mr. J. D. Clapperton. staff surveyor, prepared an accurate topographical plan showing all •listing topographical features, the relations between the natural and artificial features in the immediate neighbourhood and the relations of these to the surrounding country. This was necessary as a first step and essential basic clement in the scheme of townplanning. embracing the, system of streets, water supply, sanitation, recreation and other reserves, and for the classifying of the land for use for residential purposes, factories, business centres, etc. Upon completion of the topographical plan showing the contours ot the area, the Government invited competitive designs and supplied data for the use of competitors, embracing historical notes, conditions of competition, statistics relating to meteorology and climatology, with maps of the contours and boundaries of the block, and also a map of the adjacent part of the city of Auckland, and the present scheme of subdivision is largely as a result of the prize scheme submitted. Mr. K. B. Hammond, who submitted the design which received first prize, was consulted in any subsequent alterations made to his scheme.