Land sale a blow for Wairarapa Maori

ON BLOCK: A view of the multi-million -ollar Kahutara dairy property that is on the market after originally being intended as a gift to Maori living in the area from late South Wairarapa farmer Edward Holmes. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

South Wairarapa Maori will walk away with heavy hearts from the imminent sale of a multi-million-dollar farm originally intended as a gift for them, says Kohunui Marae committee chairman Haami Te Whaiti.

Mr Te Whaiti, a treaty negotiator for Ngati Kahungunu ki Wairarapa-Tamaki Nui a Rua Trust, said the Maori Education Trust was selling its 320ha Kahutara dairy farm, which had a capital value of $8.1 million.

He said the trust had fallen into debt and had already sold two King Country farms after redeveloping its property holdings in the past few years.

The Kahutara property - Mapuna Atea Farm - in the early 1960s had been intended as a gift from the late Wairarapa farmer Edward Holmes to help educate Wairarapa Maori. Today, the farm has a new 60-bail rotary shed, effluent pond and system, water treatment system and upgraded irrigation completed for 200ha.

Mr Te Whaiti late last month accompanied a delegation from the Wairarapa trust to view the property, which was private land, and the group was formulating an offer.

"We're committed to the property because of what it means for the education of Wairarapa Maori and we're committed to it because it is land that surrounds the lake," Mr Te Whaiti said.

There was a February 5 deadline for tenders on the farm and Mr Te Whaiti expected the winning offer to be double the valuation and beyond the reach of prospective Wairarapa Maori buyers.

He was crestfallen at the prospect of being priced out of contention.

Mr Holmes started working his Te Hopai farm at Kahutara in 1904 and ahead of his death in 1970 had developed a deep and abiding affection for Maori families living in the area.

He was pivotal to the building of the Tuhirangi meeting house at Kohunui Marae at Pirinoa, providing vital building materials and formally opening the wharenui in 1956.

In 1960, he launched plans to found an education trust for Maori families in the region but was advised by government officials over the ensuing two years to pass the land to the newly-formed national organisation, the Maori Education Foundation.

There was no similar mechanism to benefit Wairarapa Maori specifically and the foundation also offered a subsidy that doubled the value of the gifted land.

In 1963, Mr Holmes handed the land to the foundation and, during a ministerial visit to the property, had voiced his hope "the land would be used as a training farm for local Maori".

Mr Te Whaiti said the spur for prospective Wairarapa Maori buyers was Mr Holmes' original vision to provide the land for the education of hapu in the region.

"Our reason for wanting to buy is around the original purpose of the land as a gift while for the trust, it's a commercial decision," he said.

"If we turned away, which is looking more and more likely, it would be with much reluctance and sadness."