Amalgamation

In 1963, Te Atiawa were further disassociated from ancestral land when the titles to reserves, many of which had become divided among large numbers of owners through inheritance, were amalgamated into a single title. Owners no longer had a specific interest in their customary land but only a proportional interest in reserves throughout Taranaki. A 1967 amendment to the Maori Reserved Land Act 1955 facilitated further sales. The amendment provided that the Maori Trustee could sell lands to lessees, provided a proportion of the aggregated owners agreed, even if the owners with ancestral links to those blocks were opposed to selling. Between 1968 and 1975 the Maori Trustee sold 16,325 acres from the Parininihi ki Waitotara Reserve.

By 1974, 63% of reserved land originally vested in the Public Trustee throughout Taranaki had been sold and a further 26% was under perpetual lease.

In 1976, following the recommendation of the Commission of Inquiry into Maori Reserved Land, the amalgamated reserve was vested in the Parininihi ki Waitotara Incorporation. The Paraninihi ki Waitotara Incorporation, in which all owners were shareholders, was formed to administer perpetually leased lands transferred from the Maori Trustee. Owners no longer had any direct interest in their ancestral land.

Today, less than five per cent of the area that was reserved following confiscation is owned by Maori people as Maori freehold land. Succession has fragmented interests, so that over time the returns to individuals have generally diminished.