ANCIENT MAORI CLAIM

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23365, 3 December 1937, Page 18

ANCIENT MAORI CLAIM

SOUTH. ISLAND SOLD FOR £2OOO NATIVES TO MEET GOVERNMENT The intention of the Government to receive three members of the Ngaitahu tribe from the South Isla>nd to discuss a claim for compensation arising from the sale of Native land 90 years ago was discussed by Mr G. H. Skerrett, of Awarua, Plains, in an interview with the Southland Times. He said he considered that the Government should carry out the wishes of the Royal Commission set up in 3921 by Mr W. F. Massey and commit the country to the debt. • “After the claim had received consideration by the Royal Commission, a'Native Land Court was set up and a report of its investigations is still oh record,” said Mr S’kerrett, “It is up to the present Government to start to carry opt the wishes, of the commission. It would be a difficult task to select three members -of the Native race who have sufficient knowledge of the, situation, particularly if the persons chosen had to appear before members of the Cabinet who might be opposed to any suggestions they might put forward.” Mr Skerrett said that the Natives interested had collected thousands of pounds among .themselves to defray the expenses of numerous petitions and deputations to Parliament. Delegates had- always been well received, but the Government of the time always adopted a “taihoa,” or waiting policy, and emphasised that the country was short of money. Consequently the Natives’ anneal? were put aside v/ith the promise'that they would be dealt with later in more favourable circumstances. Lands Surrendered It was at Akaroa on June 12, 1848, that John Tikao and other chiefs of the Ngaitahu appended their marks to a deed agreeing to surrender to William Wakefield, as the agent of the New Zealand Land Company, “all our lands and territorial possessions lyfrg 1 along the shores of these seas, commencing at Kaiapoi and on till it comes out at the other sea at Whakatipu Waitai (Milford Haven).” The deed mentioned that the lands would be more particularly delineated on plans and that the places of residence and cultivation of the Natives would be reserved for them and their children, It was also indicated that “it shall be for the Governor hereafter to set aside some portion for us when the land is surveyed by surveyors, but the greater portion of the land is unreservedly given up to the European forever.” The consideration for this land deal, involving: about 12,500,000 acres, was £SOO paid down and three subsequent instalments of . £SOO. - > 'As European settlement developed, go did the complaints of the Natives that they had been allocated insufficient land for their use. Partial attempts to remedy the position were made from time to time, but as nothing comprehensive was done the claim became more and more difficult to adjust. Hi an Acre Land transactions 90 years ago show that large areas changed hands at quite nominal prices, 6d to 8d an acre being the highest figure. The South Island land purchased was worth lid an acre; it was not a case of selecting particular and choice areas, but taking the whole, including the mountaintops. The Royal Commission of 1921 could not work out a definite price based on the 1848 areas and values, as these important factors were then undetermined, and the position changed with every development of •ettlement by the European. However, one principle was in operation which the commission considered it fair to apply, that of reserving tenths. Under •uch a system the Natives could have reserved to them one and a-quarter million acres, and they would have been very rich land owners to-day. However, this was a paper ideal. Impossible to realise under the conditions in 1921, so the commission, having the ieaths-syßtenf in. ciiiid, s(;ruck an

average price over the whole area of lid an acre, which works out at a total of £78,125. The commission, carefully deducting the £2OOO which John Tikao and his contemporary chiefs obtained in hard cash in 1848, proceeded to work out What the balance of £76,125 was .worth in 1921, allowing for 5 per cent, interest for 72 years. It came to the impressive sum of £274,050, which, with the unpaid capital, totalled £300,175. There had been many years of petitioning and other agitations by the Natives to. secure their rights under the purchase, and the commission considered it fair to add something to meet this expense, thus bringing the bill up to a total of £354,000. In 1935 the then Government made an offer of £IOO.OOO as a final settlement of the claim, but it was not accep’ed by the members of the Ngaitahu Trust Board.