Summer services update
The organisations in this list all have records relating to Māori land and can be used as a starting point for research.
Māori Land Court
The Māori Land Court is a court of record. The Court’s main function is to record the ownership of Māori land. The records date from 1862.
The Court has a continuous history of recording Māori land ownership, right from the first Crown Grants to the present time. The Court must approve the:
- sale of Māori land
- transfer of shares in Māori land between owners or to new shareholders
- alienation of Māori land, by lease or licence and the partition or subdivision of Māori land.
The Court proceedings are recorded in Minute Books of the Māori Land Court. Decisions are recorded by Court orders, sealed with the official stamp of the Court by the presiding judge.
Judge’s responsibilities
Three or more judges of the Māori Land Court may convene as the Māori Appellate Court to:
- hear appeals against judgments of the Māori Land Court or,
- consider matters related to the traditional tribal boundaries, referred to it by the Waitangi Tribunal for decision.
Judges may also be called upon to be presiding officers of the Waitangi Tribunal when the Tribunal sits in divisions.
Te Puni Kokiri
The main role of Te Puni Kokiri is to provide high quality policy advice to government on the:
- Crown's relationship with iwi, hapu, and Māori
- Government's objectives, interests and obligations relating to Māori.
Office of the Māori Trustee
The Māori Trustee's main activities are:
- administration of certain blocks of Māori-owned land that are held under an agency or trust for the owners
- collection and distribution to owners of rents and other income from the land that the Māori Trustee administers
- investment of trust monies.
Archives New Zealand
Archives has a database of Māori Land Court Minute Books published as the New Zealand and Pacific Collection by the University of Auckland, September 1996.
Some land record types are also held with Archives New Zealand and can be viewed online or in offices around New Zealand.
Waitangi Tribunal
The role of the Waitangi Tribunal is to make recommendations to government on claims brought by Māori relating to the practical application of the Treaty of Waitangi. The Tribunal determines whether the matters claimed are inconsistent with the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi.
The Tribunal can only make recommendations, except in relation to section 27B of the State Owned Enterprises Act 1986. However, many of its past recommendations to government have been accepted and implemented.
Tribunal reports are a rich source of Māori histories.
Te Arawhiti - the Office for Māori Crown Relations
The primary functions of Te Arawhiti - the Office for Māori Crown Relations are to:
- negotiate on behalf of the Crown the settlement of historical grievances under the Treaty of Waitangi
- implement settlements that have been reached
- administer the Mechanism for the Protection of Māori interests in surplus Crown lands. This is called the Māori Protection Mechanism.
National Library
The National Library holds rich and varied collections of research material. It houses the Alexander Turnbull Library - a storehouse of words, pictures and sounds that tell us about the activities of people in New Zealand and the Pacific.
Crown Forestry Rental Trust
The Crown Forestry Rental Trust has records of Crown land that have Crown Forest Licences.