Iwi protest wins battle for dairy farm

VICTORY: Some of the 50 Ngati Kahungunu ki Wairarapa iwi members who occupied land at Mapuna Atea farm in April to protest the sale of the property that was originally intended as a gift to them. PHOTO/FILE

Ngati Kahungunu ki Wairarapa iwi members who protested the multimillion-dollar sale of a South Wairarapa dairy farm, Mapuna Atea, have won their battle to reclaim the land.

The 320ha Kahutara dairy property, which has a capital value of $8.1 million, was in 1963 gifted by the late Edward Holmes to an organisation today known as the Maori Education Trust.

Mr Holmes had over his lifetime developed a deep affection for Maori families in South Wairarapa and his original intention in gifting Mapuna Atea was to help educate Wairarapa Maori.

But there was no mechanism to receive the property and Mr Holmes had been directed to pass the land to the then Maori Education Foundation.

The foundation was reformed as a trust that annually distributes grants and scholarships to Maori, with the Mapuna Atea profits attracting a dollar for dollar boon from Government when dispersed.

Since 2010 the trust had lost $19 million in assets and was today in considerable debt, and the Mapuna Atea property was sold in February to Taranaki buyers despite Ngati Kahungunu ki Wairarapa attempts since the late 1990s to reclaim the land.

About 50 iwi members had occupied the land in April in protest against the sale and a gathering of members was told at a meeting in Masterton last week the Taranaki-based new owners were happy to sell the farm back to the Ngati Kahungunu ki Wairarapa iwi.

Ian Perry, Ngati Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tamaki-nui-a-Rua Treaty Claimants Trust, earlier said the new owners had been keen to negotiate a buy-back. They had been unaware of the history of the land until told of the protest.

Iwi members at the meeting in Masterton last week also gave their approval by vote for the Crown to buy Mapuna Atea farm as part of the Tiriti o Waitangi settlement for Ngati Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tamaki-nui-a Rua, according to a Maori Television report.

Crown representatives meet the new owners of Mapuna Atea farm next week to negotiate the buying back of the property.