South Island Landless Natives Act 1906 facts for kids

Quick facts for kids South Island Landless Natives Act
New Zealand Parliament
Related legislation
Native Land Act 1909
Status: Repealed

The South Island Landless Natives Act 1906 (often called SILNA) was a special law made in New Zealand. It was created to deal with a big problem about land for Māori people in the South Island. This law tried to give land back to Māori who had lost their homes and farms.

Why Was the Act Needed?

Land Sales and Broken Promises

After the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840, the New Zealand government (called the Crown) bought huge areas of Māori land. By 1860, the Crown had bought almost all of the South Island.

The Ngāi Tahu people, a major Māori tribe in the South Island, sold about 34.5 million acres of land. This was about 80% of the South Island's total land. When they sold this land, the Crown promised to set aside 10% of it. This land was meant for the Ngāi Tahu people to live on and use.

However, the Crown did not keep this promise. Many South Island Māori were left with very little land. They did not have enough land to grow food or earn money to support their families.

Investigating the Problem

People were unhappy about the land situation. So, in 1879, a special group called the Smith-Nairn Royal Commission of Inquiry was set up. A "Royal Commission" is like a big investigation ordered by the government. This group was meant to look into the complaints about the land sales. But the investigation stopped before it could finish its report.

In 1886, another Royal Commission started. This one was led by Judge Alexander Mackay. His report found that Ngāi Tahu people needed enough land to live on and make a living. He suggested that over 200,000 acres of land should be given to them as a way to make up for what they had lost.

What the South Island Landless Natives Act Did

After many years, the South Island Landless Natives Act was passed in 1906. This law aimed to give land to Māori who had been left "landless."

About 4,064 Māori people were given land under this Act. They received a total of 57,000 hectares of land in the South Island. This worked out to less than 15 hectares for each person.

However, the land they received was often in remote, forested areas. These lands were not the traditional lands where their ancestors had lived. The small size of the land blocks and their remote location meant they were very hard to use. It was almost impossible for people to grow food or earn money from these lands.

What the Waitangi Tribunal Said Later

Many years later, in 1991, the Waitangi Tribunal looked into the Ngāi Tahu land issues. The Waitangi Tribunal is a special group that investigates if the New Zealand government has kept its promises under the Treaty of Waitangi.

The Tribunal's report, called the Ngāi Tahu Land Report, was very clear. It said that the Crown had acted unfairly and had broken the Treaty of Waitangi many times when it bought Ngāi Tahu land.

The report also said that the government's later efforts to fix the problem were "few, extremely slow, and largely useless." This meant that the South Island Landless Natives Act of 1906 did not truly solve the problems for the Ngāi Tahu people.