Helen Clark apologises to Northland hapu for treaty breaches

8.00pm

Prime Minister Helen Clark today made a historic apology for the Crown's treatment of a Northland hapu.

The apology, made at the Otamatea Te Uri O Hau marae near Kaipara Harbour, is only the third Crown apology offered to a hapu or iwi for Treaty of Waitangi breaches since the Crown began settling grievances.

The apology was part of a Treaty of Waitangi settlement with the hapu.

"The Crown apologises to the ancestors of Te Uri O Hau and their descendents for the breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi," Helen Clark said.

Te Uri O Hau received $15.6 million in assets in November 2002 after agreeing to a settlement with the Crown over a Treaty of Waitangi claim.

The Crown Forestry Rental Trust will also give Te Uri O Hau about $1.1 million in accumulated rentals from the forests as part of the settlement in addition to the $15.6 million negotiated with the Crown.

In 1842, chiefs Te Uri o Hau and Ngapuhi ceded up to 3000ha of land to the Crown as punishment for the actions of Maori against a shopkeeper who is believed to have desecrated an urupa (cemetery) and removed human remains. No payment was made to the hapu for the land.

Between 1854 and 1865 Crown purchases alienated 110,000ha of Te Uri o Hau land.

Reserves set aside following sales often included sacred wahi tapu sites, but these reserves were not protected against alienation, despite the hapu's wishes.

In the 1890s the disputed sale of 815ha of hapu land was resolved in favour of the buyer, against the wishes of the people of Te Uri o Hau.

The only other Crown apologies for such breaches were to Ngai Tahu, in the South Island, in 1998 and Taranaki's Ngati Ruanui last June.

- NZPA