DECISION ON NGATIAWA PROFITS

Te Ao Hou, March 1959, Page 46

DECISION ON NGATIAWA PROFITS After three years of litigation, the Court of Appeal has decided on the distribution of the profits from the Ngatiawa Maori Land Development scheme. Maori owners of the land are entitled to one-twelfth of the profits from the scheme. The origin of the Ngatiawa scheme lay in the confiscation of Maori land after the murder of Rev. Volkner in 1865. Some of this land was later returned to Maori owners, and this land has been developed and farmed under Maori Land Development since 1930. However, along with the Maori land, the department farmed a further 4600 acres bought by the Crown. When the Maoris in 1955 started their Court action, they contended that the land bought by the Crown in the 1930's had only been held in trust for the Maori owners, and that they were therefore entitled to the profits from that land. With this, the Crown did not agree. In the end, the Court of Appeal decided against the owners for various reasons. The decision will be of interest to owners of other blocks in similar circumstances, for there have been more cases where the Crown bought and developed land along with Maori land development schemes. This not only helped to make development economic, but also provided work for Maori unemployed in years of depression. In these cases the Maori owners are entitled only to such part of the profits as has been made out of their own lands.