Occupiers face eviction

The Office of Treaty Settlements says Maori occupying part of a Far North cattle and sheep station are "on notice that they're going to be evicted".

The acting director of the office, Dean Cowie, would not say last night whether members of Ngati Aukiwa on Stony Creek Station, south of Mangonui, had been given a deadline to leave the property.

Between 20 and 50 hapu members have been living in shearers' quarters on the 2275ha farm since December 23 in a long-running dispute over the former Landcorp block, now landbanked by the office for use in settlingTreaty of Waitangi claims in the area.

Efforts to get the group to leave have been unsuccessful, and Mr Cowie said the next step was to arrange an eviction.

"That will happen some time soon. The matter is now an operational one with the police."

Far North rural area commander Inspector Mike Rusbatch said he understood the hapu were being given "a reasonable time" to pack up, remove their property and leave.

"I hope that happens to avoid police involvement. We're not in a hurry to jump in there."