LAKE OMAPERE CLAIMS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 666, 18 May 1929, Page 13

LAKE OMAPERE CLAIMS

LEGAL DISCUSSION TO BEGIN POINTS IN TREATY Legal discussion on the claims —entered by the Ngapuhi tribe and the Crown for the possession of Lake Omapere, North Auckland, and the lake bed, will be heard at a sitting of the Native Land Court in the city on Monday. The first hearing of the case was at Kaikohe in March, but an adjournment was made after witnesses were heard. The court at that sitting found, as the natives claimed, that the tribe used a substantial food supply in the fishing provided in the lake, and also dug kauri gum from the lake bed. The main points around which there will be discussion are the effect of the Treaty of Waitangi, the claim of the Crown to all lakes and lake beds, the claims of the Crown and of adjoining owners to share in the lake, the riparian rights of the adjoining owners, and the right of the Crown to raise or lower the lake for hydroelectric works.

Mr. V. R. Meredith will represent the Crown at the hearing, which will be before Judge Acheson, and tli natives’ representatives will be Messrs. E. C. Blomlield and L. W. Parore. Special discussion will he concerning the interpretation of the Treaty of Waitangi. Mr. Parore has found that, in the translation of the treaty, the English meaning is sovereignty over the North Island. The North Island, of course, was first taken possession of. the South Island being taken later by proclamation. WAITANGTS MEANING A unique point to be raised by Mr. Parore is that, while the English meaning is sovereignty, the native meaning was merely governorship of the North Island by the British. Mr. Parore told THE SUN today that it was a fact that the terms of the treaty were barely known by the great majority of people in New Zealand. The Omapere claim will have a significant bearing on the claims on all lakes in New Zealand. The first lake over which native claims clashed with those of the Crown was Lake Rotorua. Later, claims were made over Lake Waikaremoana, from which a big supply of electricity is expected to come in the future. The Maori tribes interested were the Tulioe and the Ngati-Kahungunu peoples, but the appeals over Waikaremoana are still pending, after several years. Discussion will probably be made eventually before a full bench of Native Land Court judges. The decision on Omapere will be watched eagerly by Maoris throughout New Zealand.