Eight arrested in hapu's bid for Far North farm

Another attempt by a group of Far North Maori to establish physical ownership of a large sheep and cattle station near Mangonui was turned back by police yesterday.

Eight members of Ngati Aukiwa hapu were arrested as they walked up a driveway to the entrance of the manager's residence of Stony Creek Station, 10km south of Mangonui.

They were part of a group of 25 hapu members who had gathered outside the 2275ha property to face about 20 police and 12 police vehicles, parked to block off the two main entrances.

All those arrested, six men and two women, were charged with trespass and taken to Kaitaia police station for processing.

They made an appearance before a Court registrar before being released on bail to appear in Kaitaia District Court within the next two weeks.

There was no violence during the farm confrontation.

Before he was arrested yesterday, hapu spokesman Wilfred Petersen jnr said the group intended to reoccupy the farm and take possession of the manager's house.

He said the Office of Treaty Settlements (OTS), Justice Ministry, police and the farm's consultants had been told of Ngati Aukiwa's intention through a hapu-generated order for all Government agencies to quit the property by 8am yesterday.

"We told the manager too. We don't want to be seen as being covert. We want it all out in the open," Mr Petersen said.

OTS holds the property on behalf of the Crown for use in land claim settlements evolving from Treaty of Waitangi claims by local Maori.

Stony Creek is a former Landcorp station that was landbanked in 1995 for the purpose of settling Maori land claims in the area.

But in a dispute running for more than six years, Ngati Aukiwa are opposing ongoing OTS negotiations with another local Maori group, Ngati Kahu ki Whangaroa Trust Board, over the future of the station.

Ngati Aukiwa, who claim ancestral ownership of the property, do not recognise any trust board authority to negotiate with the Crown through OTS over the future of Stony Creek.

The hapu has lodged a claim against the Queen in the Whangarei High Court over the issue. The action includes its historical claims to the Stony Creek land.

Mr Petersen said yesterday's stand-off had happened because of a lack of progress in their High Court claim which had been called twice but was being put off because there was no appearance by the Queen or her former New Zealand representative, Dame Silvia Cartwright.

OTS director Paul James said yesterday negotiations with the trust board were progressing positively and he was confident an agreement in principle could be reached by the end of this year.

He confirmed that OTS was not negotiating with Ngati Aukiwa over the station's future.

A 49-day hapu occupation of shearers' quarters and the farm's main woolshed was ended by police in February last year when they evicted the group and arrested two leaders.

The pair were charged with trespass but the charges were dismissed in Kaitaia Court, although Judge David Wilson said the property was held by the Queen for Crown land under the 1948 Land Act.