MUDFLATS TAKEN FOR RADIO AID

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25206, 10 June 1947, Page 8

MUDFLATS TAKEN FOR RADIO AID

MAORI FISHING RIGHTS INFRINGED APOLOGIES TO PORIRUA TRIBE f (P.A.) WELLINGTON, June 9. The Under-Secretary of Works (Mr N. E. Hutchings) apologised yesterday to Maoris at Porirua for the action of his department in the construction of a radio range station in Porirua harbour, thus infringing traditional Maori fishing rights. Mr Hutchings told a tribal assembly that departmental officers had commenced the work without a true understanding of the situation. He asked the tribe to realise the conflict between tradition and progress and suggested that the compensation to which it was entitled could be decided by the Native Land Court after a conference between the parties concerned. Mr Hutchings explained that the work in hand was the construction of a radio range for the guidance of aircraft approaching Wellington, and flat land was essential for the project. The area that had been taken wag considered the most suitable near Wellington. Five towers approximately 120 feet high were being erected, and a stopbank would be Constructed around them, enclosing an area of approximately 15 acres. From time immemorial Porirua Maoris have obtained pipis, pupus, and flounders from the mudflats now required for the radio range.