The past

Tu Tangata, Issue 5, 1 April 1982, Page 13

The past

The saga of the Mangakino Township Incorporation goes back to the 1890 s when the Maori owners of Lake Wairarapa ceded it to the Crown. In recompense they were paid JL 2000 and given the Pouakani Block on the banks of the Waikato, 300 km to the north—“a waste of scrub and swamp” according to a brochure on the land, covering about 14,000 hectares. It lay idle, unused, till the late 1930 s when two events transformed land values.

The first was the discovery of cobalt treatment to make volcanic and pumice soils productive. Second was the Government decision to build the Mangakino hydro electric plant and a town to house construction workers. Mangakino Incorporation lawyer John Stevens says there are all sorts of tales about the move but it seems likely that the planners were unaware the land had been given to the Maoris till planning had been under way for 18 months. In 1945 they offered to buy the land but the owners mostly absentee, preferred to lease it to them on the basis

that when building was finished the town would be handed to the Maoris as a going concern. About the same time the Maori Affairs Department began assisting owners to develop the land, in particular two big sheep stations, Mangakino and Mangatahae which make up the Pouakani development scheme. In 1947 the first families moved into Mangakino township and by 1961 it had a population of 5025. But in 1963 the population began to drop as construction workers moved out on completion of the project and gave up the leases of their land.

The Maori owners then formed the Mangakino Township Incorporation and leased the 600 to 700 residential properties privately. Residents bought their own houses and paid about S4O a year in rents to the incorporation and another S4O in rates ot the Taupo County Council. Today these have increased to round S2OO a year on average for rates and slightly less for rental. Theoretically the incorporation was picking up about $60,000 a year in rents but with massive arrears and poor management almost all money collected went in administration costs.

Large sums were also eaten up in unsuccessful ventures including a vineyard and a tourist lodge. So to date, profits have been minimal. Shareholders have received one dividend of $12,000 divided among 1500. Today land in Mangakino township is worth about $4 million and the two stations managed by Maori Affairs another $7.5 million. With these now healthy economic units Maori Affairs wants to hand them back to the incorporation the original owners but before this can happen at least 40 per cent of shareholders have to vote to take control.

The aim of the weekend wananga was to trace enough owners for a vote to be taken and management committee vicechairman Tom Johnson says it looks as if this will definitely be able to go ahead. For instance he said before the weekend shares from nine of the 139 original owners had not been succeeded to. Now only two or three were still unknown and newly discovered descendants of the others, spanning several generations, would make a significant difference to the number of voters. But most important he said, was the interest in family and tribal ties generated by the weekend.