The Ngatihine Disputes

The Ngatihine block covers some 13,626 undeveloped acres in Northland. In March 1974 the Maori Land Court appointed a 7-man trust under s438 of the Maori Affairs Act 1953. Already weaknesses of s438 are apparent:

a) the section "suggests" that the owners of the land be given a choice "as far as practicable" to express their opinion as the person/s appointed as trustee/s. But the Court is not under any compulsion to seek the opinion of the land-owners. Of course in situations where many of the land-owners are not known the opinion of the majority might not be easily ascertainable. But surely the Court should be required to find out the opinions of the owners who live on the land or who are readily available? This did not happen in the Ngatihine situation.

b) Although the Court on its own voliton can find out the wishes of the owners it is not obliged to heed those wishes.

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The trustees decided the Ngatihine land would be developed for logging by Carter Holt but when the lease was formally presented one trustee, Graham Alexander, refused to sign because he believed it disadvantageous. Eventually Alexander was removed from the trust (again the owners had no say) but he was reinstated in August 1976. There was a catch however. Under sub-section 5 of section 438 the Court can "confer in the trustee or trustees such powers as the Court sees fit, but subject of any express limitations or restrictions."

The Appellate Court changed the definition of the trust's objective to "the leasing of the land to Carter Holt Farm and Forestry Ltd." Faced with a apparent Hobson's choice Alexander still refused to sign. He considered the lease extremely disadvantageous and thought his people had the right to "shop around" for a better deal. Whether the lease is unfair is beside the point. At issue here is the Court's power of manipulation afforded by s438.

For a comparable situation one might imagine the Wellington Rugby Football Union Management Committee being declared a trust under 2438 and selling Athletic Park to the New Zealand Rugby Football Union for a nominal sum (perhaps even a pepper corn). The Maori Land Court could not even protest that the consideration is inadequate.