Greenstone exploitation deplored

Press, 31 May 1977, Page 1

Greenstone exploitation deplored

Commercial exploitation of large greenstone boulders is destroying New Zealand’s heritage, the chairman of the South Island Maori Council (Mr W. J. Karetai) has claimed. He said his concern stemmed from the recent recovery of an enormous nephrite boulder from near the Cascade River on the South Westland coast, but his remarks were prompted by apparent vandalism of an even larger boulder near the Dart River, which flows into Lake Wakatipu. Mr Karetai was supported last night by Mr Russell Beck, who helped survey the Dart River find in 1970. Thought to weigh 25 tonnes, and measuring 4m by 2.1 m by 1.2 m, the find urns kept secret until last year, when the boundaries of Mount Aspiring National Park had been extended to include it. It is believed to Ire evidence of a mother lode of greenstone further up the Dart River watershed. The 12-tonne Cascade River boulder was recovered by a West Coast syndicate in a $12,000 operation last April, amid a dispute over mining rights to it. Such boulders should be regarded as a rare and valuable part of New Zealand history, Mr Karetai said. The Dart River rock had been known to the Maori as a source of greenstone before the pakeha arrived in New Zealand. “If commercialism is allowed to rear its head at every opportunity that national history will be put in jeopardy,” said Mr Karetai. He believed that both

the council and the New Zealand Historic Places Trust should have been consulted before the Cascade River boulder was allowed to be removed. On behalf of the council he had already protested to the Minister of Mines (Mr Gair), about this omission, Mr Karetai said. At the next meeting of the national Maori council he would be asking it to seek Government protection of al) such boulders. During his visit to the Wakatipu area, Mr Karetai also inspected the site of an old Maori greenstonecollection camp on Mount Eamslaw Station, near Glenorchy. The council would be asking the local county council to designate it as an historic re« serve. Mr Beck, the director of the Southland Museum, said from Invercargill las* evening that although it would be difficult to bring in legislation to preserve boulders, he would like to see it done. Mr Beck said it seemed a pity large boulders when found, were commercially exploited. It would pay to start preserving good examples of greenstone, particularly that found on the West Coast, he said. It was getting scarcer every day. It seemed a pity some really nice water-worn, naturally polished pieces, which were nice to look at, could not be preserved. When big boulders were found there should be some means of getting a second appraisal to see if the boulder was worth preserving. The boulders meant much to the Maoris, said Mr Beck, an authority on gem stones and the author of a book on greenstone.