One survey plan, two legal estates | Waitangi Land Ledger

Evidence-linking standard. Material factual claims on this page are linked at the point they are made to the primary or best available supporting record. The source register remains at the end for full auditability.

1. Board title 225438 closes one side of the split

A recent LINZ guaranteed search copy records Record of Title 225438, issued 14 June 2005, for 15.3673 hectares described as Sections 6–11 and 15–16 SO 338905. The registered owner is the Waitangi National Trust Board. [LINZ title copy ↗]

The title identifies two prior references: NA642/154 and NA88C/748. [LINZ title copy ↗]

This is registered-title proof that Sections 6–11 and 15–16 SO 338905 are Board freehold land. [LINZ title copy ↗]

2. The Crown asset audit closes the other side

The 2023 Northern Crown Asset Audit lists the Waitangi Endowment Forest as Crown property held by the Department of Conservation on behalf of the Waitangi National Trust. Its legal descriptions include Sections 1–5 and 12–14 SO 338905, alongside other Waitangi Parish allotments. The listed proprietor is His Majesty the King. [Crown asset audit ↗]

The same Crown record includes title references 225437, NA589/18 and NA642/154. [Crown asset audit ↗]

SO 338905 sections	Current evidential position	Owner / trust
1–5, 12–14	Listed within the Waitangi Endowment Forest in the Northern Crown Asset Audit. [Crown asset audit ↗]	Crown / His Majesty the King
6–11, 15–16	RT 225438, 15.3673 ha, issued 14 June 2005. [RT 225438 ↗]	Waitangi National Trust Board

One survey plan now contains two different legal estates. The plan number therefore cannot be used as a proxy for ownership. Section numbers and title records have to be followed individually. [Crown sections ↗] [Board sections ↗]

3. The 2005 title date is not the acquisition date

The FNDC section 32AA investigation says the Board-held Sections 6–11 and 15–16 SO 338905 were not part of the original 1932 estate and that the date they were first added could not be established, although the investigation concluded they appeared to have been added before 1991. [FNDC s32AA ↗] [LINZ title ↗]

That is consistent with the title-back chain. RT 225438 was created in 2005 from earlier title references. It records the current survey/title configuration, not necessarily the date the Board first acquired the underlying land. [FNDC s32AA ↗] [LINZ title ↗]

The next decisive documents are therefore the historic registers for NA642/154 and NA88C/748, together with the instrument that caused the relevant parts to enter Board ownership. [prior title references ↗]

4. The Pony Club addition can now be dated much earlier

The current title for the Paihia Pony Club parcel is NA9A/620, Lot 3 DP 51155, area 4.7685 hectares. The search copy says the title was issued on 23 June 1966 and names the Waitangi National Trust Board as registered owner. Its prior reference is WA A156808. [NA9A/620 title ↗]

The FNDC planning report had only been able to say that this non-original parcel was added before 1991. The title evidence improves that statement materially: [FNDC s32AA ↗] [NA9A/620 title ↗]

The Board held the Pony Club parcel under title NA9A/620 by 23 June 1966. [NA9A/620 title ↗]

The notation “subject to section 59 Land Act 1948” is not evidence of the transfer mechanism. Section 59 was the statutory reservation of minerals to the Crown. The transfer or grant still has to be found in the prior instrument WA A156808 or associated land records. [Land Act s 59 ↗] [NA9A/620 title ↗]

5. 33 Bayly Road must not be used to fill the 19.4232 ha gap yet

An EPA fast-track record lists the Waitangi National Trust Board as the ratepayer for 33 Bayly Road, Pt Lot 1 DP 42597, MX-3315864. Separately, the Northern Crown Asset Audit lists Part Lot 1 DP 42597, area 2.7167 hectares, under NA642/154, with His Majesty the King as owner and the Waitangi Endowment as the statutory basis. [EPA record ↗] [Crown asset audit ↗]

Those records cannot safely be collapsed into one parcel. “Part Lot 1 DP 42597” may describe different severed parts, the EPA table is a ratepayer/property-notification record rather than a guaranteed title copy, and the Bayly Road address is also used operationally for land spanning both Crown and Board sections. [EPA record ↗] [Crown asset audit ↗]

Status: MX-3315864 is still a priority title retrieval. Until the record itself is produced, its area and registered proprietor will not be entered into the ownership total. [EPA reference ↗] [Crown asset audit ↗] [LINZ search ↗]

6. The remaining 19.4232 hectares is still genuinely open

The Board title 225438 and the Pony Club title NA9A/620 are already included in the 486.5768-hectare freehold total established in Part 07. They cannot be counted a second time. [LINZ title copies ↗]

Accordingly, the difference between the presently proved Board freehold schedule and the published 506-hectare description remains 19.4232 hectares. [LINZ title copies ↗]

That missing difference may represent another Board title not included in Appendix B, a planning/operational boundary broader than registered freehold, or a combination of parcel and survey conventions. The evidence does not yet choose among those possibilities. [current Board titles ↗] [Crown parcels ↗]

7. The title-back queue is now precise

Priority 1 — NA642/154. Determine the parcels, owner history, Endowment status and every later split feeding 225437, 225438 and any remaining Pt Lot 1 DP 42597. [225438 prior refs ↗] [Crown refs ↗] [LINZ search ↗]

Priority 2 — NA88C/748. Trace how this title fed both the 2005 SO 338905 title and the 2007 DP 326610 titles. [title prior refs ↗] [LINZ search ↗]

Priority 3 — WA A156808. Identify the 1966 instrument behind Lot 3 DP 51155 / NA9A/620. [NA9A/620 prior ref ↗] [LINZ search ↗]

Priority 4 — 225437. Obtain the Crown title for the complementary SO 338905 Endowment sections. [Crown asset audit ↗] [LINZ search ↗]

Priority 5 — MX-3315864. Establish whether it is a separate current title, a legacy reference, or an administrative identifier attached to part of the Endowment/Board boundary. [EPA reference ↗] [LINZ search ↗]

Finding

The Endowment-to-Estate story is no longer hypothetical. The evidence now shows a physical survey-plan split: Crown Endowment sections and Board-owned sections sit inside SO 338905. It also dates at least one non-original Board addition to 1966. The unresolved task is no longer whether later land entered the estate, but exactly which instrument moved each parcel and when. [Board titles ↗] [Crown Endowment sections ↗]