£3000 A YEAR.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18673, 23 April 1926, Page 8

£3OOO A YEAR.

FOR TAUPO FISHING RIGHTS. AGREEMENT REACHED. MAORIS' BIG DEMAND REFUSED. (P3ESS A3SOCIi.TIOX TELKOEAM.) AUCKLAND, April 22. One of the most important events in tho history of the Taupo oountrv was the meeting at the Waihi village to-day, when the Minister for Native Affairs, Mr J. G. Coates, met tho assembled representatives of the Tnwhaxetoa, and other tribes interested, to negotiate for an agreement respecting I iisliing rights in Taupo waters. I An agreement was made for tho payment to tho Natives of a minij mum annual sum of £3OOO for tho fishing rights of Lake Taupo. Sir Maui Pomare, Minister representing the Native race, was present at the conference. Houui te Heulieu, Chief of tho Tuwharetoa people, briefly addressed the Native Minister. He assured the Minister that they were anxious to arrive at a settlement of the fishing rights question, and they were convinced that Mr Coates had tho interest of the Native people at heart, as had his respected predecessor. Nguha Huirama outlined the wishes of the Natives, and stated that they asked for a payment of £15,000 in return, for the cession to the Crown of aJI Native rights over tho lake waters, this sum to be paid in perpetuity, under conditions to be drawn up similar to those under which the Arawa people of Botorua were receiving an annual sum of £6OOO. In reply, Mr Coates said that the Crown was not concerned with the ownership of the lake. All the Government wanted was to secure to the Natives some financial benefit from the fishing attractions of tho lek&. At present licenses were issued by the Government, and except in one or two localities whoro tho Natives charged fishermen a further foe, the Natives got nothing. Undoubtedly they should get something for the fishing rights, and the Government wished to ensure that they gbt it. He would at once inform them candidly that they had two chances of obtaining an annual payment of £15,000, as they had asked, namely, "their own and t Buckley's." Was there no other way in which an understanding could be reached P The Government, he said, hod an offer to make, which was that the feeß for the fishing licenses in the Taupo waters be increased, perhaps to £6 for overseas fishermen, and to £.l for New Zealanders, and that 50 per cent. Of the amount so obtained be paid to the Natives, the balance to be expended by the Government in maintaining the standard of fishing, advertising, administration, and so on. In return for this payment, which would be made to the Native Board to be 6et up to administer the money for the benefit of the« Natives, they would hand over to the Government'all their fishing rights in and over Taupo waters. It was estimated that the amount which the Natives would receive under, thiswtWfte*. Blent Would probably be between £2OOO and. £2500, which would increase in the near future with tho growth of the tourist traffic. » The Payments to the Arawas. He wished to. point out that the payment made annually to the Arawa people was not a payment for the beds of the Rotorua lakes, but was made in consideration of services rendered to the Crown by the Arawa people in the Maori War days. Further, the Government did not want to have anything to do with the bed of Lake Taupo, which was quite a different matter from the question of the fishing rights in Taupo Water. Mr Coates then suggested that after an adjournment for luncheon a committee qf the Natives' leaders -should meet him at a round-table conference, when he was sure a settlement satisfactory to all could be arranged. This course was adopted, and later the assembled Natives held a meeting. at which Chief Hoani te Heuheu moved a resolution to the effect that the Natives hand over to the Crown their fishing right* in and over Lake Taupo, in consideration of a perpetual, annual payment by the Crown of £3OOO, provided that should 50 per oeht. of the fishing license fees collected by the Crown be more than £3OOO, then such larger sum should be paid. The resolution was carried unanimously, and the Ministerial party, reentering the meeting hall, it was conveyed to Mr Coates. It was made, clear that details of tlie manner in which the money was to be paid and administered were to be settled at a later date, and that the question of the fishing rights in the streams and rivers was also to be gone into later. Tn reply to this, Mr Coates stated that the Government would accept the offer, but that details would, have to bo settled later.