River laws scrapped

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 11, Issue 501, 31 August 1993, Page 2

River laws scrapped

"If you want to boat down the Whanganui River, do it with one of the groups who adhere to the voluntary safety code" may be the message from information centres and booking agents to tourists soon. The three councils who administer activity on the surface of the river have agreed to scrap the present bylaws - a move endorsed by the Ruapehu District Council at their meeting Friday 20 August. The councils and interested parties including the Department of Conservation, commercial river users and the

Whanganui River Maori Trust Board agreed that the bylaws were unworkable and unable to be policed. The move would see commercial operators asked to stick to the voluntary code, and information centres and booking agents asked to promote it. People would then be encouraged to asked to go with operators who abided by the code.

Iwi representative Kevin Amohia told the RDC meeting the Whanganui River Maori Trust Board would like to administer the control of the river and that local Maori definitely wanted to be part of the review process. He said the local hapu were the ones who should be involved - that the trust board doesn't have the mandate to represent them.