Subtribal accord tough task for Ngapuhi

Managing the competing interests of 100 or more subtribes will be one of the trickiest jobs for Ngapuhi leaders as they push towards a comprehensive Treaty settlement.

Te Runanga a iwi o Ngapuhi has begun a series of hui to gain a mandate to negotiate with the Crown. And, says chairman Sonny Tau, not before time.

"We are the architects and the keepers of te Tiriti o Waitangi and yet when it comes to benefiting from it we're on the back end. We're now on the way."

If a mandate is secured, keeping the tribe - 122,000 strong - together for the duration of negotiations and settlement will be one of the runanga's toughest challenges.

A tribal saying describes the situation perfectly - Ngapuhi kohao rau - Ngapuhi of a hundred holes, a reference to the hundreds of hapu and various personalities which make up the iwi.

Mr Tau said that underneath Ngapuhi "warmongering" was a desire for unity.

"It's a challenge but it's not insurmountable. We're talking about te kotahitanga [unity] and the forgetting of one's own individual interests in the interests of the collective.

"There are hundreds of different opinions. But the conclusion must be that the benefits for Ngapuhi [of settlement] as a whole far outweigh those to individuals, whanau and hapu."

Criticisms have already been directed towards the runanga - from hapu leaders such as David Rankin, from Matarahurahu, who argue subtribes should be left to exercise their own tino rangatiratanga when it comes to treaty claims.

That's been a claim levelled at iwi boards around the country, over two decades and while hapu have successfully negotiated settlements, it's the exception not the rule because Governments have preferred to deal with large natural groupings.

The runanga was the only Ngapuhi body which had the resources to negotiate with the Crown, Mr Tau said.

In the interim, the social and financial costs of lost opportunities for not having settled keeps mounting, he said.

The runanga wants to finish its mandate process by October and before the Waitangi Tribunal starts its hearing into Ngapuhi claims.