LARGE SUM TO PAY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXI, Issue 18973, 26 March 1924, Page 4

LARGE SUM TO PAY

BIG NATIVE LAND CLAIM ERROR IN EARLY DATS. LARGE HAWKE’S BAY BLOCK. AREA OF 7200 ACRES. Ono of several large land claim*, which are likely to involve the Government in hundreds of thousands of pounds in compensation to Maoris who were deprived of lands by error and otherwise in the early days, has been under investigation at Hastings for nearly a year by Judge Gilfedder, of the Native Land Court. This case concerns a valuable block Of land in the Tukapau district known as Aorongi, and the Court has just issued a judgment identifying the claimants, who are entitled to participate in the compensation. The Aorongi block of some 7200 acres, was assumed by the Crown Lands Department to have been in-' eluded in a purchase from the native owners made some 60 years ago by Mr. (afterwards Sir) Donald McLean on behalf of the Government. It was thus treated as Crown land, and most, if not all, of it was included in grants, Under purchase, made to the late Hon. John Johnston, and it formed part of his Oruawharo station, which afterwards came into the hands of his son, the late Mr. Sydney Johnston. The natives have persistently contended that this assumption was made in error, and that the area mentioned was specifically exempted from the sale made by them to the Crown. This contention, after decades of agitation for an inquiry, they succeeded in establishing, and Judge Gilfedder has now, under special legislation, been engaged in ascertaining the names of those who are entitled to share in the compensation which the Gevcrnment wlli ultimately have to pay. So far the amount or form of compensation has not been decided. That probably will be a matter for negotiation with the natives interested. It is fairly sure, however, to run into scores of thousands of pounds, and hopefu. natives talk of it even reaching six figures. There were originally no fewer than 17 groups of claimants, so that it may be realised how arduous a task the Judge was set in arriving at a conclusion. The judgment, in which recburse is had to a wealth of Maori tradition, traces the history of land settlement and ownership in Hawke’s Bay from the sixteenth century to the present day. The effect of the judgment. which proceeds upon the basis of 7200. shares, is to reduce the claimants to seven groups, who are awarded shares ranging from 300 down to 20. Each group or party concerned will be allowed, subject tr. review by the Court, to make its distribution among the individuals composing it. of the shares allotted to it. Until these allocations are made tho judgment will take-the fornrof an interlocutory order only. Leave 1: given to appeal against the judgment or any part of ft.