Farm occupation simmers

An unauthorised occupation of part of a Far North farm by local Maori land claimants is to be reassessed by the Office of Treaty Settlements in Wellington.

The farm manager and his staff are on holiday after being given a trespass notice by a hapu on Christmas Eve, and the office has had to hire a security guard to keep an eye on the 2275ha Stony Creek Station, its 1500 head of cattle and 5000-odd sheep.

Far North police are monitoring the 13-day-old occupation of shearers' houses on the farm, 10km south of Mangonui, by about 20 Ngati Aukiwa hapu members.  

Hapu members took over the houses and woolshed on the former Landcorp property on December 23 as part of a long-running mandate and land ownership dispute with the settlements office and the local Ngatikahu Ki Whangaroa Trust Board.

Settlements office director Andrew Hampton said that as staff at the office returned to work in the next few days, the situation on the farm would be reassessed.

This would probably take between one and two weeks.

"We'll talk to the farm manager and police," he said.

"We have not asked police to remove anyone at this point, provided there is no interference with operations on the farm," he said.

Mr Hampton said Stony Creek Station was unique among 700 settlements office-linked properties because it was the only farm on which the office owned all stock and plant, and had its own manager. Other properties were leased out through agents.  

The trust board and the Crown are negotiating over land claims in the area.

These include the future of the Stony Creek block, which has been land-banked since 1995 for potential use in a treaty settlement with the Crown.

Ngati Aukiwa dispute the trust board's negotiating mandate, and oppose the inclusion of their claims in negotiations with the Crown.

They believe unextinguished native aboriginal title to the Stony Creek land exists, and want to see evidence of a bill of sale to show that title was extinguished.

Northland police rural area controller Inspector Mike Rusbatch said the occupation was an issue between the Office of Treaty Settlements and the hapu disputing the station's ownership.

"We're leaving it to the primary parties and taking a conciliatory approach," he said.

Trespass notices issued by Ngati Aukiwa to the farm manager and staff on December 24 gave the employees 21 days to leave the property.

It is not known when the manager will return to the farm.