Govt to return land shares to Maori owners

Press, 12 June 1984, Page 15

Govt to return land shares to Maori owners

PA Wellington The Government plans to hand back the shares of about 1400 Maori land blocks valued about $5 million to their owners. The land shares are in the Maori Trustees Conversion Fund which, until 1975, compulsorily took over Maori land shares which were worth less than $5O. The fund would be abolished by the new Maori Affairs Bill and the shares transferred back to the remaining owners said the Maori Trustee, Mr Bruce Robinson. The Cabinet had approved a proposal to ensure that the shares went back to Maori owners on favourable terms. It had agreed to proceed with legislation to this effect in the new Maori Affairs Bill. No money would change hands in the transfer. Shares valued less than $lOOO would be gifted back to the owners. That would cover 600 to 700 blocks and would cost the Government $190,000. The sale of other blocks would be at present values but the purchase price would be converted to an interest free loan which would be repaid from future income accruing to those shares, said Mr Robinson. The Maori Trustee will stay as title holder until he has received the transfer cost. Mr Robinson said the “generous settlement” by the Government meant that values were pegged and shares would be transferred

to owners, although this, would take some years, without them needing to raise further loans. The land blocks ranged in size from about 10 acres to thousands of acres. They were originally bought by the Crown for $1.48 million but value increases during the last 20 years has brought values up to about $5 million. The conversion fund was established under the 1953 Maori Affairs Act to provide a means to reduce the fragmentation of Maori land ownership. The Maori Land Court was required to vest all uneconomic interests in the Maori Trustee who paid out the minor owners, aggregated the shares, then offered them for resale in larger packages. Few were resold because owners could not afford the present market values and could not get loans on land with an average return of only about 5 per cent.