Incorporations started as family enterprises on the each Coast before the turn of the century. Since the Native Land Act 1909, they provided a legal formula whereby the owners could work together on a block of land and share the proceeds from their work. Today there are more than 90 active incorporations on the East Coast farming properties extending from small dairy farms to large sheep stations, the best known being the Mangatu incorporation embracing an area of over 100,000 acres. At the Young Maori Leaders Conference in Auckland last year, incorporations were regarded as the best solution of the Maori land problem throughout the country today. INCORPORATIONS by MATIU TE HAU In the beginning, incorporations were communal enterprises. The owners, more often than not, were members of the one family who would meet and discuss and make decisions for themselves. Tribal authority and co-operation were manifest in all their undertakings. Today, however, incorporations resemble private companies far more than communal enterprises. The owners of the blocks no longer live in communities; the incorporations are big business, huge sums of money are involved, work is done by paid labour and the difficult task of management and keeping of accounts is in the hands of paid servants. The incorporations reach a high state of business acumen and ability with an intelligent grasp of the problems involved. Trading banks have financed the Maori Incorporations for a number of years. Many bodies Corporate have been set up to take over control of lands formerly administered by the Maori Trustee. In the Aotea district the 12,000 acre Morikau block has been released. Incorporations, as has been already pointed out, were made legal by the Maori Land Act of 1909. Subsequent legislation has consolidated their position bringing them more into line to conform with European business principles and practices. The Maori Affairs Act of 1953 (Part 22) tightened up many of the provisions. The Act provides for Incorporations of owners of Maori land where the beneficiaries in the estate number more than three persons. An application is lodged with the Registrar of the Maori Land Court to grant the incorporation and to state the purpose for which it is formed. Provision is made for enterprises other than farming. Not less than half of the owners must agree to the incorporation and once formed holds it in trust for the owners in accordance with their interests in the land. The incorporation can be extended to include certain other areas. There is power to exclude other areas and separate bodies corporate could amalgamate if they so desired. * This article is part of one of the “data papers” distributed at the Young Maori Leaders Conference and reprinted with the permission of the Organizers. The Act sets out how revenue is to be applied after administration costs, rates, taxes, repayments on loans and any other requirements for purposes that the body corporate may authorize are paid. The residue is to go to the shareholders. Money can be invested and loans granted but, only in the former, in Government securities or debentures or in local authorities, and in the latter in loans by mortgage in any real property. No loans are given to members of the Committees of Management or to one of the incorporated owners. Accounts are to be audited and lodged with the Maori Land Court for public inspection. Committees of Management are to be of not less than three and not more than eleven persons. They hold office for three years (one-third elected every year) and are appointed subject to an order from the Maori Land Court. Reasonable travelling expenses are allowed and any fees paid to the Committees of Management can only be authorized by a general meeting of the owners. Voting is by share interests, not heads. Proxy voting is allowed but no committee member may be proxy for another member nor can a proxy holder be elected to the committee. The Maori Land Court acts as registrar of the body corporate, holds the lists of owners, assets and all other particulars as well as fixing a quorum for general meetings. The Maori Incorporated Owners Regulation 1955 lays down the rules for elections of Committees of Management, the dates of the elections, the conduct of general meetings and proxy voting. The register of Incorporated owners includes the names and sexes of the equitable owners, trustees for any minors, relative interests in the land and the addresses of the owners.