Young Nicks Head buyer aims to be friend

By AUDREY YOUNG

The newly approved American owner of Young Nicks Head, John Griffin, says he has not taken Maori protest against the sale personally and does not feel unwelcome in New Zealand.

His British father served in the Royal Air Force and had told him about serving alongside "courageous and ferocious" Maori from New Zealand.

It did not surprise him that Maori would fight hard for land they loved and he did not take it personally at all.

The 39-year-old financier spoke to the Weekend Herald from Long Island, New York, after the Overseas Investment Commission granted him conditional approval to buy the 661ha farm.

He said he was looking forward to meeting Tutekawa Wyllie, spokesman for Ngai Tamanuhiri, which opposed the sale, and to them "walking the land together".

"I look forward to getting started as soon as possible," he said. "I also look forward to establishing a long and rewarding relationship with the local community."

He had an open mind as to how he and the iwi might work together or recognise the importance of the land to Ngai Tamanuhiri.

As part of the deal, Mr Griffin will farm sheep and cattle on all of the land but has agreed to:

* Give into public ownership the cliffs and a chain back from them (a chain is the length of a cricket pitch), the Rangihoua Pa site and the large hill on the headland known as Te Kuri. They will become a historic reserve in perpetuity under the Reserves Act.

* Retain public access to those sites.

* Establish an open covenant over the headland under the Queen Elizabeth II National Trust to ensure it is used only for farming and that there can be no development such as lodges or golf courses on the headland.

* Create and fund a trust to recognise Ngai Tamanuhiri's cultural and spiritual values in the property. The trust will have two trustees appointed by the tribe and two by Mr Griffin.

* Undertake extensive planting and preservation of a wetland area on the property.

Mr Wyllie is reserving judgment on the conditions of sale and whether the tribe will agree to the trust until after a tribal hui in Gisborne tomorrow.

But he said he was heading home last night from a week of protest and negotiation in Wellington with "better than nothing."

Mr Wyllie said he had spoken to Mr Griffin yesterday in what he described as a constructive and respectful conversation, the contents of which he would report to the hui.

Before arriving at Parliament on Monday, Ngai Tamanuhiri had been occupying the landmark since July 15.

Asked if he had considered giving part of the land to Ngai Tamanuhiri instead of into public ownership, Mr Griffin said that when he realised the importance of the site to all New Zealanders, he felt it was right to give it to all New Zealanders and not just Maori.

The headland is said to have been the first part of New Zealand sighted by Captain Cook's crew when it was seen by Endeavour cabin boy Nick Young in 1769.

Mr Griffin said he had fallen in love with New Zealand on a visit and wanted to buy some coastal land that America no longer had.

"There just aren't comparable spaces. We don't have wide open coastal land."

Mr Griffin will pay $4 million for the farm from the owner, Sue Gunn, who lives in Australia.

He plans to spend $1 million in the next five years, half on conservation measures and half on farm improvements.

The manager's house will be upgraded and Mr Griffin will build himself a new house and plans to make it his residence during the American winter.

Finance Minister Michael Cullen, who approved the conditional sale, said it was ironic that it was only because the property was being sold to an overseas buyer that the Government could impose such conditions.

Department of Conservation officials had explored the possibility of the Crown buying the headland, which was about a third of the property.

But he had been advised it was already a marginal economic unit and subdividing off a third of it would make it unviable.

Mr Griffin had indicated he would not go ahead with the purchase if that were made a condition.

Mr Griffin's public relations consultants in New Zealand said he was "well regarded for his philanthropic endeavours in the United States, which include various conservation projects".