Ngapuhis Claim Lake Ownership

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 600, 28 February 1929, Page 1

Ngapuhis Claim Lake Ownership

HEARING AT KAIKOHE BEARING ON WAIKAREMOANA What will be one of the most important inquiries in the history of native property transactions in North Auckland will be held on March 5 at Kaikohe. Mr. Justice Acheson, of the Native Land Court, Auckland, is to hear the claims of Maoris of the Ngapulii tribe to the possession of Lake Omapere, a few miles north of Kaikohe. Ah important feature of the case is that it is likely to be regarded in the light of a test case in connection with the possession of Lake Waikaremoana, where huge electric power works will shortly be in use. It is not yet known if 'Waikaremoana is Crown or native property. Hundreds of North Auckland Maoxis are intei*ested in the present claim for Omapere. There will be intensive delving into tribal history. Omapere, too, has not been overlooked by those who search for likely sources of electrical energy. It is not so many years ago that a local body considered beginning a power scheme there. Should there be substantiation of the Maoris’ claim, it will not be possible for a sudden commandeering of the lake for power. It is not contemplated to begin electric power works at Omapere now. When the Arapuni service is available throughout Auckland Province, there will scarcely be any need for supplementary sources, except perhaps for minor local schemes. WAIKAREMOANA ASPECT If the Omapere claim reveais any evidence of consequence applicable to the circumstances of Waikaremoana, and any probable native claim over that lake, there may be important bearing on the institution of electric power works on its shore.

This is one phase of the North Auckland claim, although the Maoris, for ancestral reasons in the main, ar* anxious to have undoubted possession of the lake.

The Crown representatives at Kaikolie will be Mr. V. R. Meredith and Mi*. O. A. Darby. The Maoris' claim will be advanced by Mr. John Webster and Mr. Lou Parore. The hearing of the claim will be long, and the question will be of outstanding importance.

it has been the custom in New Zealand, in similar questions as those arising over Waikaremoana and Omapere, for the Crown to be able to claim property until the natives have justified their claims. Unless they can do that, the property automatically passes into the possession of the Crown. TANGLED DEALINGS

New Zealand is a prolific field whero investigation into tangled property claims is concerned. Wholesale confiscation has caused great confusion, especially in such districts as Taranaki and Waikato. Cases are known where land has been confiscated because hostile Maoris were discovered on it. Later it has been revealed that friendly Maoris may have owned the land, and that the hostile natives may merely have camped on the property for a brief time. Then, again, shrewd Maoris sold land to settlers in the early days for tomahawks and blankets. The flaw was that many of the sellers had not the authority to dispose of the property. Cases such as these keep the native land courts busy even to this day.