Priceless Maori artefacts said to have been stolen from a house near Hastings late last week have been handed to Te Papa National Museum in Wellington, almost 300km away.
The taking and return of the items, which date back at least to the 1800s and estimated by one observer tobe worth "millions - but not for sale" - is shrouded with mystery, with police saying yesterday it was not known who took them.
Police also did not comment on how the safe return of the items took place.
The 14 taonga were understood to have been taken on April 17 from a house near Mihiroa Marae at Paki Paki, south of Hastings, and were the subject of discussions around the marae before police revealed two days ago that they were missing.
The items included several pounamu (greenstone) mere, a ceremonial adze and a whale-bone patu, part of a once much-larger collection included in the estate of Pukepuke Tangiora, regarded as a wise and generous visionary who was at the forefront of the fight to gain women the right to vote in New Zealand.
She died in 1936, leaving at least 100 pounamu and other pieces, but it dwindled over the years. One mere which had been gifted by a descendant to Hastings Girls' High School was returned in a service on the marae in 2011.
Ms Tangiora left one son, who had nine children, who had a life interest in the estate.
In 2013 when there was one surviving life tenant, and residual beneficiaries from the other children, a Maori Land Court case dealt with ongoing trustee appointment and membership issues, and was told the net value of the estate was more than $10million. The original will had been amended by act of Parliament seven times, and a judge said there had been many court cases over the years concerning proposals to distribute the estate and sell land.
