Fletcher backs Maori claims

Press, 15 September 1988, Page 5

Fletcher backs Maori claims

The chief executive officer of Fletcher Challenge, Mr Hugh Fletcher, came out on the side of Maori fishing claims yesterday. He had been asked at a press briefing on the company’s annual profit results what effect the claims under the Treaty of Waitangi would have on Fletcher Fishing. Saying that his wife was a legal counsel for the Maori people in their fishing claims, Mr Fletcher said it would probably cost only half a billion dollars for the Government to pay the Maori people for half

the fishing quotas. This, he suggested, should be compared with the hundreds of millions of dollars spent to no avail on the Maori Affairs Department. It should also be compared with the $BOO million written off on the oil refinery — plus a cheque given to the oil companies. A lot of “emotional claptrap” had been issued by those concerned about the Maori claims under the treaty, Mr Fletcher said. He added, “But then, Fletcher Fishing may have another view.”