The Waste Lands Act of 1854

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Defining "Waste Lands": The term "waste lands" was a colonial concept based on John Locke's labour theory of property. It defined land that was uncultivated or unoccupied (by European standards) as un-owned (or "waste") and therefore available for the Crown to claim and on-sell to settlers.

This Act and subsequent "waste land" legislation were controversial because they facilitated the removal of land from Māori ownership and ignored traditional Māori land-use practices and property rights.

It was a New Zealand act that allowed provincial governments to regulate the sale, leasing, and occupation of "waste lands"—land acquired by the Crown from Māori. It empowered Superintendents and Provincial Councils to make their own laws for land management within their provinces, though this was subject to the Governor's approval and some initial uniformity through the earlier 1854 act. This act was a key part of the provincial era, shifting more control over land from the central government to the provinces.

The Act was one of the first pieces of legislation passed by the newly formed New Zealand General Assembly and was a high priority for the settler-dominated government. It was built on the Lockean theory that land not actively cultivated or "improved" belonged to the Crown. This ignored the Māori customary land tenure system, which included communal ownership and extensive use of uncultivated areas like forests and fisheries.

The Act allowed for the transfer of responsibility for "waste lands" to the provincial level, where there was immense pressure from settlers for land to farm and live on. This led to a boom in land sales to private buyers and the government.

This change allowed Māori to sell land directly to private settlers, leading to widespread and often coercive land sales.

The increasing pressure on Māori to sell their land, driven by the demand the Act enabled, led to significant tensions and inter-tribal disputes. This was a major factor contributing to the start of the New Zealand Wars in the 1860s, as some Māori groups resolved to place a tapu (restriction) on further sales.

The progressive loss of land through this and subsequent legislation (such as the Native Land Acts and New Zealand Settlements Act) resulted in the displacement of large numbers of Māori, leading to poverty, crowded and unhealthy living conditions, and the erosion of their economic base.

Thirty years of uncontrolled dealing, coupled with Crown purchases and the confiscation, made great inroads into Maori land. Maori Land Courts issued titles to the Maori owners who were then free to sell to the Government or settlers and, as a Royal Commission reported in 1891, the Maori owners “were surrounded by temptation. Eager for money wherewith to buy food, clothes, rum, they welcomed the paid agents who plied them always with cash and often with spirits”. The Commission commented that “such alienations were generally against the public interest, so far as regards settlement of the people upon the lands. In most of the leases and purchases effected the land was obtained in large areas by capitalists”.

The overall result of provincial legislation was that in 20 years to 1876, 8 million acres were sold for £76 million and another 2 million acres were disposed of under free grants mainly to those who had served in the military forces.

Between 1840 and 1980, the total volume of land that passed out of Māori ownership was approximately 24 million hectares (about 59 million acres).

The Waste Lands Act 1854 was a foundational piece of legislation in the process of Māori land alienation, a legacy whose effects are still felt today.

References:

https://teara.govt.nz/en/1966/land-settlement/page-4

https://teara.govt.nz/en/death-rates-and-life-expectancy/page-4

https://monicalogues.com/category/cultural-journeys/te-ao-maori