Raglan golf course dispute settled

Press, 17 June 1983, Page 4

Raglan golf course dispute settled

PA Wellington A 47-year battle over Maori ownership of the Raglan golf course was settled at a meeting at Parliament Buildings last evening.

A Tainui Awhiro representative, Mrs Eva Rickard, agreed after a meeting with the Minister of Lands, Mr Elworthy, to advise her people to drop an appeal against a High Court decision validating the golf club lease.

Mr Elworthy said this cleared the way for an immediate start to processes for revesting the land in its Maori owners and he said the Government would consider providing assistance for marae development on the land.

He thought the owners had a “jolly good case” for a Government loan.

Mrs Rickard said she rejoiced that the long battle had ended.

But she said, “I regret that we had to go through all these things. We had to go to jail, other hardships, relationships I don’t know whether we will ever be able to mend. I don’t know if Raglan will ever be the same.”

The dispute over the land dated back to 1936 when plans were made to take the land for an emergency airstrip, said Mrs Rickard. Later it was vested in the Raglan County Council and leased to the golf club. After a long, often bitter dispute the Government agreed in the late 1970 s to give the land back to its Maori owners.

However, revesting was delayed by further battles over whether the golf club

should retain its lease and an initial demand by the Government for $61,000 for the land.

In 1980, a High Court case validated the lease, but Mr Justice Bisson said this was not incompatible with the Maori people’s moral claim to ownership of the land. Though the then Minister of Lands, Mr Young, confirmed that the Government still intended handing back the land, Mrs Rickard said the owners decided to appeal against the High Court judgment because they felt it was biased and ignored the Maori interest.

She said yesterday that she had decided it was better to drop what would be a costly appeal case, after an assurance by Mr Elworthy that the land would be revested according to Maori wishes.