Paehinahina Mourea Trustees Would Like to Acknowledge the Following People Who Provided Information on the Beginnings of the Trust
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Acknowledgements The Paehinahina Mourea trustees would like to acknowledge the following people who provided information on the beginnings of the trust: David Te Hurihanganui Whata: As an original trustee David has vivid memories of the time when the owners took over the block. Pirihira Fenwick: The daughter of an original trustee Pirihira lived close to the blocks that the Ngati Porou people farmed. William Newton: With his father as the person who took responsibility for clearing the debt and establish- ing a forestry contract, William was able to observe how he went about doing this. Written Information The trustees acknowledge the following sources of written Information: • Loveridge, Dr D. The Most Valuable of the Rotorua Lands: Alienation and Development in the Ngati Pikiao Blocks, 1881 – 1960. Crown Forestry Rental Trust Report. Aug1998. • Loveridge, D & McBurney, P. Ngati Pikiao Lands 1881 – 1960: Block Histories. Crown Forestry Rental Trust Report. 1998. • Walker, Ranginui. Tikitere Triumph. • Paehinahina Mourea Trust: Annual Reports. • Paehinahina Mourea Trust: Minutes of Meetings held since 1974. • Maori Land Court: Minutes and Reports ( 2 ) The First Forty Years 1971 2011 Paehinahina Mourea Trust The first forty years 1971 -2011 Ki nga Ariki O Paehinahina Mourea Tena koutou katoa Ka hoki nga mihi me nga tangi Ki nga Papa-Koroua na ratou i takoto Te kaupapa I timata ai nga mahi whakato rakau Ngaherehere Ta ratou korero ma nga uri o ngati Te Takinga me nga uri o Ngati Hinekura hei Pupuri te mana whenua me o ratou moemoea kia Tutuki Ai. Mo nga mokopuna tupu ake. Oti ra koutou nga kaitiaki Tawhito kua huri atu Ki tua o te arai takoto mai I raro ite maru O to tatau Kaihanga. Contents 1 The Land...........................................................................................4 Map of the Ngati Pikiao Blocks.............................................................................................5 Map showing Paehinahina Mourea Lands..............................................................................6 2 History of the Trust.............................................................................7 3 Ownership and Management................................................................13 4 Forestry............................................................................................15 5 Amalgamation / Aggregation...............................................................17 6 Tikitere A Block...................................................................................18 7 Firewood Collection...........................................................................20 8 Purchase of Atlantis House....................................................................21 9 Geothermal Investigation........................................................................22 10 Microsilica & Sulphur...........................................................................26 11 Okawa Bay Resort................................................................................28 12 Aerodrome Beacon Site...........................................................................33 13 Iwi Futures...........................................................................................34 14 Charitable Trust...................................................................................35 15 Where is Paehinahina Mourea now?.......................................................36 ( ) ( ) The First Forty Years 1971 2011 The First Forty Years 1971 2011 1The Land 14 Charitable Trust In recent years the trustees discussed ways of enhancing the trust ownership and systems (as per their strategic plan). They considered how they might The block of land known as Paehinahina Mourea is located 12 km to the effectively make distributions to their beneficiaries and others. Many of the north east of Rotorua city. It lies on the southern shores of Lake Rotoiti grants paid to beneficiaries are for charitable purposes, such as education with its southern boundary reaching the Rotorua-Whakatane Highway and grants, grants to marae where they are registered with the Charities Com- a small part to the west is on the Rotorua-Tauranga Highway. The block is mission and grants for health related needs and churches. With significant 824 hectares with most of it covered in Pinus Radiata. revenues to come from the geothermal development not far away the trust would be able to increase the allocation to those areas. Some areas of the block are not planted in forest. These are the buffers, firebreaks, areas beneath power lines, geothermal (sulphur) areas, reserves Hence the trustees decided to set up a charitable trust. This would provide such as Papakiore and wahi tapu. The area is geothermally active and con- a robust structure and the trust would develop charitable distributions poli- tains many ngawha, waiariki and puna. cies that would include the criteria they would need to meet when consider- ing requests. As the land is on the shores of Lake Rotoiti there are a number of bays that are used by boaties as ideal picnic spots in the summer time. The trust has set up these areas around the lake as a Maori reservation. All wahi tapu have been recorded on maps used by foresters and other us- ers of the land as areas to be avoided when planning the use of the land. A small user of the land is Vodafone who has a mast on the land, the lease of which gives the trust a small annual income. ( 4 ) ( 37 ) The First Forty Years 1971 2011 The First Forty Years 1971 2011 1 The Land Iwi Futures 13 Map of the Ngati Pikiao Blocks In 2008 the trust entered into a research project under Dr Tanira Kingi of Massey University. Paehinahina Maori was one of four Maori land organi- sations studied in this research. The others were Ngati Hine, Waimarama Incorporation and Aohanga Trust. The purpose of the 3 year research project was to develop a Maori land and resource decision making framework that would assist the trust and other Maori land users in the future to define their values and aspirations, develop a land and resource evaluation model which would help them to assess alternative land use options and develop a decision making model to explore, evaluate and plan potential development pathways. The end result would be a comprehensive generic toolbox that eventually any land block could use to better govern and administer their own block or land resourc- es. The project was fully funded by FoRST. The programme concluded with a highly successful conference in Rotorua entitled “Whenua, Sustainable Futures with Maori Land”. Those present heard from a number of highly successful Maori organisations, most of which had land as their main asset. ( 36 ) ( 5 ) The First Forty Years 1971 2011 The First Forty Years 1971 2011 1 The Land Aerodrome Beacon Site Map showing Paehinahina Mourea Lands 12 In 1963 when Paehinahina Mourea was still under the Maori Development Scheme, the Crown acquired approximately one hectare of its land un- der the Public Works Act 1928. It was taken to use for a radio beacon for planes using the airport. The trust was paid $270 for this land and nothing for the right of way that was needed to allow access across the trust’s land. In 2009 the trust was informed that the Crown no longer required the site and offered the land back to the trust based on current market values which they assessed to be $140,000. The trustees were stunned at the amount that the Crown was asking for this hectare of land. For more than 40 years the trust had not been able to benefit from this piece of land which was in the middle of their forest. The areas surrounding it were all producing an income for the trust. With this in mind the trustees sought legal advice on their options. Te Ururoa Flavell, the MP for Waiariki was asked for help and he took the matter up in Parliament but without any success. The trus- tees were asking that the land be given back to them at no more than the price the Crown had paid for it plus an allowance for inflation. Through the trust’s solicitors they requested that the Crown apply their dis- cretion and agree to their request. That request was declined by the Crown agent (LINZ) who decided they were going to follow the letter of the law. Hence the trustees were taken by surprise when, without any warning the beacon site was advertised for sale to the public by tender. The trustees had no option then but to make a bid for the site. Deciding on the amount to of- fer was difficult as the trustees felt they could not allow this piece of land to fall into private ownership. They started with the valuer’s figure, added a small premium and then filed their tender hoping that they had done enough and fortunately it was. The return of the beacon site has cost the trust $161,333. ( 6 ) ( 35 ) The First Forty Years 1971 2011 The First Forty Years 1971 2011 13 Iwi Futures 2 History of the trust In 2008 the trust entered into a research project under Dr Tanira Kingi of In the 1880s the Native Land Court, while investigating the titles to the Massey University. Paehinahina Maori was one of four Maori land organi- Ngati Pikiao lands, divided them into various blocks. Among the first to be sations studied in this research. The others were Ngati Hine, Waimarama dealt with by the Court were those in the west of Lake Rotoiti. The largest Incorporation and Aohanga Trust. and most important was Te Taheke block, thought at the time to comprise about 19,000 acres. Te Taheke covered the whole of the western shores of The purpose of