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Save our heritage now

For too long an important part of NZ's heritage has been used simply as a means for financial ripoff and gain, here and overseas. Maori artifacts are the subject of a bill before the House which doesn't go far enough. Here are the submissions of the Maori Organisation on Human Rights on the Antiquities Bill.

Our submissions are concerned primarily with Maori artifacts — though the same principles could also be applied to any other irreplaceable part of New Zealand's heritage.

In our view the Bill should definitely prohibit all export of Maori artifacts. It should veto any buying or selling of Maori artifacts, and put an end to trafficking in these priceless tribal heirlooms. Measures proposed (Sections 12.e, 13 etc) are in our view quite inadequate, and there is no proper provision in the Bill for notifying the New Zealand public or the Maori people of the discovery of Maori artifacts. Section 11.3 provides only for notifying the Secretary of Internal Affairs and leaves further action to his discretion (S.11.4).

The Bill, as it stands, appears to us to be lacking in appreciation and due respect for our unique national inheritance. The penalties proposed — "a fine not exceeding $500", "a fine not exceeding $1000" — are disrespectful and quite unrealistic in these days of inflationary trafficking. Such penalties are not likely to deter those who spend thousands of dollars to acquire a tribal heirloom. .

Any fine is useless in these days of inflation when artifacts are valued above money and are bought because money changes its value.

We suggest rather that a realistic and respectful approach would set as deterrent and penalty the confiscation of the artifact or artifacts bought by any collector, dealer etc who has broken faith with the law as we would like to see it drafted.

We are surprised and dismayed by what appears to us as a basic lack of respect for Maori artifacts in the proposed Bill. We can only suspect that its thinking is still tainted by the old outdated attitudes of New Zealand laws which did not enforce respect for Maori burial grounds and Maoritanga. The Maori Land Court has existed from the 1860s but has never exerted sufficient power to protect Maori artifacts from trafficking and speculation.

Today our society is recognised as multi-cultural and we try to help each other achieve true multi-cultural standards. It would seem natural for such an Antiquities Bill to recognise that the Maori people of New Zealand are by right best equipped to protect their own tribal heirlooms and ensure they are respected. In our view it is essential for the Bill to provide for consultation with the Maori people concerning their artifacts. This is the best way to ensure cooperation and mutual respect between Maori and Pakeha New Zealanders.

We suggest therefore that the Bill, which gives wide powers to the Minister and Department of Internal Affairs, should also explicitly give powers to the Minister of Maori Affairs who should always be the elected representative of Maori New Zealanders. In our view, so long as there is a Department of Maori Affairs, it should be headed by a Maori Minister elected to that position by the Maori Members of Parliament who in turn have been elected by their people.

The Bill, in our view, should provide for all Maori artifacts to be recognised as belonging to the Maori people and therefore deposited with such an elected representative (Minister) of the Maori people, who, in consultation with other Maori elected bodies and also (where appropriate) the Maori Land Court, could best arrange for publicising their discovery and existence and for establishing the best ways of protecting and conserving them under the Crown for the benefit of all New Zealanders.

Such an arrangement is in our view the first essential logical and realistic step to preserving this part of New Zealand's unique heritage for all New Zealanders.

T.T.K. Poata Secretary