Judge reserves decision on school's occupation

A district Court judge has reserved a decision on whether the Crown is entitled to reclaim possession of land at a tiny central Northland school occupied by local Maori.

A whanau group within Ngati Hine have been running Orauta School, near Moerewa, as an unregistered school with an unstated number of pupils under the umbrella of a Maori incorporation.

The 95-year-old school was among those closed in January as part of a ministerial review of central Northland schools.

But some local Maori defied the Ministry of Education's closure order and continued to run the school.

The Attorney-General, through the Crown Law Office in Whangarei, is now seeking vacant possession of the 1.6ha site through a court order.

Most of the land on which Orauta School stands was taken from Maori owners in 1940 under the Public Works Act for a native school, and was vested in the Crown.

In the Kaikohe District Court yesterday, Kim Thomas, appearing on behalf of the Attorney-General, said once land was no longer required for the purpose it was originally taken, the first option was to offer to sell it back to the former owners or their descendants. Work was already under way on this process.

Ministry representatives had been prevented from entering the school, which had a roll of 29 pupils when it closed.

Mr Thomas said no more than 10 pupils were now believed to be at the school.

The issue was not whether the occupiers had the right to run a private school, but whether they were staying on the site illegally and the Crown had an obligation to reclaim possession.

Mr Thomas sought a return of the land by 5pm tomorrow.

School management committee spokesman Ken Brown said the status of the school land had not been clarified.

Unless the Crown could produce evidence of a sale and purchase of the land by the Queen from its native inhabitants, a judgment could not be entered against those inhabitants or their ancestors, he said.

The school had opened in 1910 with 82 pupils. It was then mainly for Maori children and had always been known as a native school.

Mr Brown told Judge Thomas Everitt he was "restrained by resolution of the whanau" from saying how many children were now attending the school.

It aimed to educate children in Maori and Ngati Hine customs and practices, but also included reading, writing, mathematics and other subjects in its curriculum.

Mr Brown said the land had been owned by members of one large family.

Judge Everitt reserved his decision. to consider submissions and the issues raised. Mr Brown said if an order was issued against the whanau it would be appealed.