relative size and importance, and the issues it faces. This gives weight to our judgements about process. 71.
For indeed, the Wairarapa ki Tāmaki Nui-ā-Rua claimants have been before this Tribunal for a long time. It was on 26 April 2001 that we first entered the district to hold judicial conferences to scope the territory and ascertain willingness and readiness to commence a Waitangi Tribunal inquiry. Immediately, we apprehended that different parts of the claimant community had different views on a number of key issues. It is fair to say that Wairarapa Māori, as we called them in our district inquiry report,108 seemed fairly divided.
72.
Supporting the community to organise themselves into what were called clusters and to work together to prepare for the inquiry was a prime focus of the work of this Tribunal and its facilitation staff for three years from 26 April 2001 to 5 March 2004. We conducted 12 judicial conferences in the Wairarapa during this time, and our collective knowledge about the claimant community slowly built. The claimants did reorganise themselves, and did come together to prepare for the inquiry. There was a Research Co-ordination Committee that enabled co-operation in the production of evidence. As just one example, in directions of August 2002, the presiding officer said that at the judicial conference that has occurred the previous month,109 Representatives from different claimant groups reported on progress, and in particular the clustering of claims with take and whakapapa in common. The Tribunal is pleased to note the progress made in clustering and the obviously efforts by claimants to group themselves appropriately.
73. Along the way, in February 2003, we arranged for Judge Caren Fox and Tribunal Member John Clark to mediate with Ngāi Tūmapuhia-ā-Rangi about internal conflicts that were affecting those claimants’ ability to engage with the Tribunal and its preparations for inquiry. Through mediation, those difficulties were resolved.110 74.
Our first hearing week commenced on 29 March 2004. We sat for a total of nine weeks between March 2004 and March 2005, holding our hearings variously at Dannevirke Town Hall, Pāpāwai Marae, Kohunui Pā, Pirinoa Hall, Ōkautete School, Mākirikiri Marae, Te Ore Ore Marae, and at the Solway Park Hotel in Masterton. We had site visits all over the large hearing district. Our knowledge about the claimants, their kōrero, and where and how they lived as tangata whenua continued to build.
75. Our report came out in 2010. We formally handed it to the claimants on 26 June 2010 at Te Ore Ore Marae in Whakaoriori (Masterton) at a big and joyful hui. It
108
The Wairarapa ki Tararua Report (Wai 863, 2010). Wai 863 #2.126 at 2. 110 Wai 863, #2.164. 109
22
