The Waitangi Tribunal has slammed the government over repeated and ongoing breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi over Lake Waikaremoana in the southern Bay of Plenty.

In the latest of a five-part finding on the treaty claims over the lake, the tribunal finds the government guilty of seven treaty breaches, dating from the early years of the 20th century.

Lake Waikaremoana.

The tribunal found that the Crown failed to provide recognition of people's relationship with the lake, through a community title specific to a taonga waterway - a form of title that recognised their tribal kaitiakitanga and tino rangatiratanga.

The Land Court, in accordance with the native land legislation, instead individualised the title to the lakebed.

The second finding of Treaty breach is that, in the 1930s and early 1940s, the Crown negated the urgent attempts of the Maori owners and the Appellate Court to get it either to prosecute its appeal, or give it up.

They were also found to have unfairly discriminated between tribes when it accepted and settled other Maori lake claims (including Taupo and the Rotorua lakes) by negotiation in the 1920s, yet persisted in its Waikaremoana appeal.

The Crown's delays effectively denied Maori access to the courts.

In the meantime, the Crown continued to use the lake as if it was the owner, and its actions were prejudicial to the mana, the tino rangatiratanga, and the economic well-being of the Maori owners.

The third finding is that the Crown breached the Treaty when it acted in an unprincipled and unfair manner after the decision of the Maori Appellate Court went against it in 1944.

The Crown continued to deny Maori ownership for a further 10 years, yet failed to take the necessary action in the mainstream courts that would have settled the matter.

Presiding officer Patrick Savage says: 'Prime Minister and Minister of Maori Affairs Peter Fraser showed the way when he said in 1947 that the Government must accept the Appellate Court's decision and negotiate with the owners.

'Even so, he did not do this until 1949, and lost office before he could take matters very far. Overall, the Crown's conduct from 1944 to 1954 breached the standards of active protection and good faith required of a Treaty partner.

'The Maori owners of Lake Waikaremoana were prejudiced because the Crown prevented the Maori Land Court from completing their titles, and denied their mana, tino rangatiratanga, and their legal ownership of the lake.”

'They were denied the rights of owners, including any economic benefit, while the Crown continued to control and use their property throughout this period without permission or payment.”

Other findings include the Crown acting inconsistently with the plain meaning of article two of the Treaty when it refused to include payment for use of the lake for hydroelectricity in the negotiations for the 1971 lease.