Farmer to risk arrest over 'reoccupation'

Controversy over the Government purchase of a Maunganui Bluff farm in 1995 to settle a Maori land claim is expected to be reignited with its "reoccupation" soon.
Allan Titford, 48, of Awanui, said yesterday he planned to move back onto his former Maunganui Bluff farm, north of Dargaville, before this year's general election to challenge the Crown title to the property.
The 670ha farm is being held in the Office of Treaty Settlements landbank for the stalled settlement of Te Roroa Treaty claims.
Mr Titford said he could be arrested and charged with trespass over the "reoccupation", which would require the Crown to prove its title in a court. As he had never been provided with a "true copy" of the sale agreement he had signed, he believed he still owned the property.
Mr Titford has never stopped battling the Crown's purchase of his land.
Three MPs - National's John Carter, United's Peter Dunne and former Act deputy leader Ken Shirley - have sought inquiries into the Te Roroa claim.
Mr Titford claimed he had signed the sale agreement "under duress" after harassment, which included having his house burned down. And he alleged Crown tampering with the agreement rendered the sale null and void.
Acting Chief Ombudsman Beverley Wakem has attributed apparent Crown changes to the sale documents to clerical error or errors in the handling of the papers.
And the Solicitor General, David Collins, has agreed with the "clerical error" analysis, saying that "disposes of the allegations."
Office of Treaty Settlements director Paul James told the Northern Advocate Mr Titford willingly sold his farm.
But a Titford supporter, One New Zealand researcher Ross Baker, has called for a full inquiry into the clerical errors and other aspects of the farm purchase, including a 1990 deal between the Crown and Te Roroa which he said rewrote history by recognising iwi claims to areas of Mr Titford's farm without documentary evidence.