Final months busy for tribunal

Press, 30 May 1989, Page 3

Final months busy for tribunal

A heavy programme of hearings faces the Waitangi Tribunal in Christchurch over the next two months. This week the tribunal is hearing submissions from the Crown and the fishing industry on the Ngai Tahu sea fisheries claim. It has also heard a submission from Federated Mountain Clubs on the land claim. On Monday, June 12, the tribunal will sit again for a week, and hear a 500 page report presenting an over-view of the Ngai Tahu land claim. The report has been commissioned by the Tribunal from Professor Alan Ward, University of Newcastle, New South Wales, and Dr Peter Tremewan, University of Canterbury. An over-view report on the sea fisheries claim, prepared by Dr George Hebib, a fisheries consultant from Auckland, will be heard on the week beginning July 3. Ngai Tahu’s legal counsel, Mr Paul Temm, Q.C., will give his final address on Monday, August 14. On Monday, August 28, the Crown will give its final address, and Mr Temm will conclude the hearings on Monday, September 11. The deputy chairman of the Ngai Tahu Maori Trust Board, Mr Henare Te Rakiihia Tau, invited the tribunal to hear the final submissions on the Tuahiwi Marae. Judge Ashley McHugh said if ail parties agreed, this could be a fitting way to end proceedings.