KEY POINTS:
A Far North hapu wants to ban entry to the Treaty Grounds at Waitangi if its claim for the land succeeds.
Te Matarahurahu spokesman David Rankin was yesterday celebrating the Waitangi Tribunal's award of a WAI designation, which puts the claim on the tribunal's list.
But existing legislation is likely to scotch any chance of the Ngapuhi hapu winning.
In 1932, Governor-General Lord Bledisloe and his wife bought 506ha and donated it to the nation. It is now owned by the Waitangi National Trust.
Mr Rankin claims that 100 years before the gift, his tupuna (ancestors) Hone Heke and Tuhirangi Pokaia sold the land to the officially appointed British Resident, James Busby.
Mr Rankin's WAI 1466 claim says that whether that sale was fair was never assessed by the Crown, though it was supposed to check all land transactions before the 1840 Treaty.
He believes that calls into question the validity of the original sale.
However, the Treaty of Waitangi Act underscores that privately owned land is not an option for settling historical grievances - only Crown-owned land can be used.
That is why Mr Rankin was surprised that the tribunal accepted his claim.
"I thought I had about the same chance as Willie Jackson becoming the Mayor of Manukau." It has given him cause to hope.
"We imagine that in the near future, the Waitangi National Trust will be given their marching orders. The land is ours and we will use it how we see fit. It might be a national treasure for some people, but it is our land. Those people can find a treasure elsewhere as the Treaty Grounds will soon be out of bounds."
NZ First MP Pita Paraone represents prominent Ngapuhi families on the Waitangi National Trust. He was surprised the tribunal had accepted the claim, given the private land issue, and called for it to make its reasons known. If there was a legitimate claim, compensation by other means was the only option.
He said Mr Rankin was grandstanding. "I would suggest to you that not too many people outside of the north, outside of Ngapuhi, even I would go so far as to say outside of Kaikohe, know that Mr Rankin is a direct descendant of Hone Heke.
"If it [the claim] did have substance, then people of more note than David would have made the claim."
Another trust member, Erima Henare, said he would be interested to see how other hapu with legitimate interests in the area, including Ngati Rahiri, Ngati Kawa and Ngati Hine, viewed the claim, but said it was the larger iwi that was likely to lead any potential claim.
"It'll be subsumed into a greater Ngapuhi claim."
