Land redress progresses despite dismissed appeal

A bid to prevent the sale of land which could go towards redressing a historic broken deal between the Crown and Māori landowners in the Nelson region has been dismissed, but it’s not all bad news for Wakatū Incorporation.

The dismissed appeal is the latest in a long line of legal action to have the Nelson Tenths land fully restored to their rightful owners.

The appeal was dismissed partly because the substantive goal of the appeal was met in the meantime. A counter-appeal by the Attorney-General was also dismissed.

Wakatū Incorporation kaumātua Rore Stafford has been taking legal action, known as the Trust Proceedings, against the Crown since 2010, seeking to have a breached contract, pre-dating the Te Tiriti ō Waitangi, recognised and corrected.

In 2017 the Supreme Court found that the Crown must uphold the terms of a pre-treaty agreement between the New Zealand Company and Māori landowners to reserve 15,100 acres (the Tenths) and exclude occupation lands (pā, urupā, and cultivation sites). The Tenths were never fully reserved, and the occupation lands were not excluded. Some of the land has been sold in the intervening years.

Since the 2017 judgment, Stafford has taken steps to make sure Tenths and occupation lands remaining in Crown ownership are not sold until the Trust Proceedings were resolved – prompted by a move from ACC to sell land in Morrison Square which included part of the Tenths.

His request for a moratorium was denied, and his appeal against that denial was last week dismissed by the Court of Appeal.

In the intervening years since the appeal was lodged, Wakatū Incorporation has independently come to terms of agreement with various Crown agencies to address their concern that Tenths land could be sold before the Trust Proceedings could be resolved.

Wakatū Incorporation chief executive Kerensa Johnston said the litigation was useful, despite the dismissal.

‘‘The core thing we were trying, which we were able to do, was to protect that core land in Morrison Square.’’