Tent-town stays put

Mana (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 4, 18 August 1977, Page 1

Tent-town stays put

Threat of eviction, insults from National Party MPs and cold weather have failed to shift “tent town” residents at Bastion Point. The residents want an end to the Government’s plan to sub-divide the ancestral land of the Ngati Whatua of Tamaki. They are also demanding that all open land around Bastion Point (about 160 acres) be returned to Ngati Whatua and be administered by a trust board.

The Orakei Maori Committee Action Group say submissions to Parliament, contacts with MPs and other pleadings over the return of Bastion Point have mounted to little. There was the choice of physically occupying the land or seeing their last few acres of ancestral land disappear forever, says the committee in their latest newsletter, Takaparawha. “We occupied the land on January 5. Unlike the Government we acted with dignity. Since then, our stand has become a test case for Maori land grievances in all parts of New Zealand,” adds the com-

mittee. During the six months occupation the residents say they have been both inspired and humbled by the widespread public support for their stand. They credit this support as being decisive in preventing the Government using the police to forcibly remove tent town residents. However, the Government is seeking a Supreme Court injunction Tonga

against four tent town leaders. If the injunction succeeds and residents refuse to move, gaol sentences could be handed down as “contempt of court charges.” Tent town spokesmen say they are preparing “the best legal defence” for the impending court case, and are also calling on supporters throughout the country to step up their activities in defence of the Bastion Point fight.