Maori Land Loss

Well It's winter know, you owe me for your debt. It's winter and I will accept your land for payment.

Individual ownership of landmeans you can sell me this land and I can get you 20% more but I'll take some of that for fees.

That sounds great!

Hi we have the papers to buy this land. We promise it will be used for a school. (Lie)

I can give some my land for a school.

Dad, can I have that toy

Sorry son maybe some other day.

When will he be okay

With this disease maybe upto a month.

Individual ownership meant that only 10 people could own land which was previously owned by 100. This didn't mean owners represent their iwi. They could sell their land at any time without anyone else's permission. Before this in 1860 Maori owned 80% of the land and after 1865 when this was released, in 1890 this number halved to only 40% of Maori owning land.

Even when the Treaty was signed in court it meant nothing. Judge James Prendergast said, "The whole treaty was worthless - a simple nullity [which] pretended to be an agreement between two nations [in realtiy] was between a civilised nation and a group of savages."

Due to the mass amount of Maori land loss families were forced into poverty as they couldn't make a stable income by 1939 Maori only owned only 9% of the land.

Because of the situations, Maori families were in diseases increased and meant if you were a Maori girl born in the 1890's you had a 40% chance of dying before your first birthday.