ORAKEI MAORIS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23334, 28 October 1937, Page 18

ORAKEI MAORIS

CONCILIATORY NEGOTIATIONS FURTHER PROGRESS MADE (Per United Press Association) AUCKLAND, Oct. 27. Further progress was made to-day in the conciliatory negotiations inaugurated on Tuesday by Mr F. O. V. Acheson, judge of the Native Land Court, with the Maori occupants of the land at Orakei known as the Church Reserve. Accompanied by Mr W. D. Armit, commissioner of Crown lands, and the contractors engaged in the work at Orakei, Judge Acheson made an inspection of the reserve to ascertain the extent of the work to be carried out on the Church Reserve preparatory to the extension of any housing scheme. It was explained to Judge Acheson that it was intended to join the two main "roads now under construction within the confines of the Church Reserve. It was the preparation for this work that the Maoris have been resisting during the past few weeks. When the proposals were explained to the Natives they agreed to them pending the negotiations suggested by Judge Acheson on Tuesday. Two of the whares in the reserve are in the line of the proposed roads, but they will be left isolated until the negotiations are concluded. The changed attitude of the Nativas as the result of Judge Acheson's counsel on "Tuesday was marked by a chant of welcome with which the party was greeted. They were greeted with an ancient chant now rarely heard after a satisfactory truce had been settled. The visiting party were the guests of the Natives at morning tea, and the workmen were able to resume their tasks unmolested.