Ted Wihongi addresses the Waitangi Tribunal. Photo/Peter De Graaf
Ted Wihongi addresses the Waitangi Tribunal. Photo/Peter De Graaf
Land taken from Maori owners for a military airfield near Kaikohe in World War II was never used for its original purpose so must be returned, the Waitangi Tribunal has been told.
Claimants wound up week four of Ngapuhi's Te Paparahi o te Raki inquiry in Kerikeri yesterday with aday of evidence focusing on Kaikohe Aerodrome. About 5km south of town on Mangakahia Rd, the airstrip itself is owned by the Far North District Council and leased to a gliding club. Surrounding land is owned by the Crown and leased for farming.
Claimant lawyer Moana Tuwhare told the Tribunal the land had been taken from the Wihongi family under the Public Works Act in 1939-45. However, any land taken under the act had to be offered back to the original owners, at market value, if it was no longer needed for its original purpose.
Ms Tuwhare said the land was offered back to the family but for $640,000. The valuation at the time was $240,000.
The airstrip was later transferred to the council for just $60,000; a fraction of the sum demanded from the Wihongis. Rather than being put to public use, it was leased to a series of private groups.
The council had recently started discussions about returning the airstrip. Now it was time the Crown did the same with the remaining land, Ms Tuwhare said.
A 1991 report found the land should be returned but was not acted on.
Witness Ted Wihongi, whose grandfather had farmed the land on either side of Mangakahia Rd, said of the 396 acres [160ha] taken for the airfield, 228 acres [92ha] had been in Maori ownership. He had found no evidence of consultation when the land was taken for "the public good".
"We choke on the public good concept, when it has only been used for private purposes. We want the land back," he said.
Mr Wihongi called for urgency because it was already 21 years since a claim had been lodged. He was also concerned the land could be swallowed up into a wider Ngapuhi settlement, leaving the family marginalised.
Claimant Ron Wihongi, 82, said the whanau was in a vulnerable state when war loomed in the Pacific and the Kaikohe Chamber of Commerce spearheaded plans for an aerodrome.
"They had no choice but to surrender their whenua. They were devastated and shocked but couldn't do anything about it."
He questioned why the Crown had taken twice as much land as needed for the airfield, and whether deviousness was at play when the Treaty of Waitangi Act was amended in 1993 to exclude council-owned land. He had lodged his claim on the airfield, which was by then in council hands, just a few months earlier.
