In 1876 42 acres 3 roods 20 perches were taken for the Railway Reserve, dividing the reserve into two segments, making effective management and utilisation more difficult.   

Continuing pressure from European settlers for more land resulted in governments removing the “inalienable” tag and introducing the concept of individual ownership. In 1887 a new partition order was approved by the Court, dividing the three original Pūrākaunui sections into 21 sections, plus an urupa and a boatshed reserve.  Most of the sections also had other owners as well.  This strategy removed the ability of the trustees to manage the total area on behalf of all the owners, and it was also a way of making it easier to entice individuals to sell their particular portions.

During the 1930’s Depression the sale and alienation of the Wharau Wera Wera Reserve and most of the 178 Acre Half Caste reserve at Heyward’s Point (established in 1880) occurred, due to poor fertility of the block, distance between the blocks and financial hardships.

The 1967 Maori Affairs Amendment Act was another determined attempt by Government to separate Maori from what little land they still retained. The Act empowered the Crown to automatically transfer to general (European) title any blocks with one owner. Sections 49, 60 & 71 at Pūrākaunui were transferred.

On 29 May 1970 the Maori Trustee wrote to the few owners of the Pūrākaunui reserve for whom addresses were held indicating that as the land was seen as being unproductive, he was interested in having this vested in him.

At this point the eventual loss of the total reserve was a threat.

Robert  John McLachlan traced 95 of the 187 list of owners. On 8 February 1971 a successful amalgamation application was heard in Dunedin. A meeting of owners was convened in Dunedin on 26 July 1971. The Court confirmed on the 20 February 1973 that the Incorporation be formed.

In 1975 the Government commissioned a nationwide coastal survey aimed at tidying and clarifying issues of title and ownership. At Pūrākaunui a supposed unformed paper road was discovered on the seaward side of the original reserve, and attaching to this was some 37 ha of accretion or new land. It was determined that the paper road was Crown Land and likewise the accretion also.  In 1989 an application was made to the Court seeking a declaration that the paper road was Maori Land, as was also the accretion attaching to it. The Crown produced a plan of 1891 showing the supposed road, but this had never received approval from the Court.  On 17 February 1993, the Court suggested the matter be referred to the Waitangi Tribunal.  The matter was settled under the umbrella of the Ngai Tahu “undergrowth claims”.  In March 1998 a Deed of Covenant was executed accepting the Crown’s offer to revoke the scenic reserve status and vest the land (37 hectares) as fee simple estate in the Pūrākaunui Incorporation.  The unformed road to the Urupa was stopped provided the Incorporation agreed to an access easement.  The Incorporation gifted a marginal strip to provide public walkway access from the legal road end to Mapoutahi (i. the reservation of a 100 metres wide access marginal strip attached to the high water mark on the Ocean Beach and ii. A similar width strip from where the 1868 seaward boundary had been, abutting the cliff faces).  The Crown agreed to fence the latter walkway.  Sadly, these agreements have not been adhered to, creating an access to this most beautiful beach now treated as a road for trail bikes and vehicles.