Inheritance rejected for commune life

Press, 29 May 1985, Page 8

Inheritance rejected for commune life

PA Auckland A Centrepoint member rejected a $1 million inheritance so that she could stay with the commune, Takapuna City councillors were told yesterday. The woman, Ms Pat Henley, said she could receive the money, from a family trust, only if she left Centrepoint. “Maybe the fact that I chose to stay at Centrepoint and go without the money can illustrate to you exactly how much I do value the way of life we have at Centrepoint,” she said.

Ms Henley, who has lived at Centrepoint for seven years, was one of several members who gave a personal testimony at a planning hearing. “I value my whole spiritual experience at Centrepoint. Money would not buy it for me,” she said. Asked later to give details about the trust money, she said, “It has already caused problems with my family, and I do not want to cause any more.” Centrepoint’s leader, Mr Bert Potter, told the hearing that in 1978 there had

been no objectors to his group on social and cultural grounds. “By 1981 the number had grown to over 600 and, by 1982, to over 1400,” he said.

“This increase was the result of an intensely organised campaign based on fear, false information, and misrepresentation.”

A council committee is hearing an application by the Centrepoint Community Growth Trust to extend its community in Albany, north of Auckland, from 60 permanent residents and visitors to 224.