More than a year after the Maori Land Court ordered former leaseholders leave Gisborne Maori land, the High Court issued arrest warrants against members of the Smith whanau following their failure to quit.
Bruce Smith and immediate family claim rights of occupation to a homestead and farming land known as Rautawhiri Station on Seymour Road, Inner Kaiti, Gisborne. The Station straddles two properties: Waipaoa 5A2 Block, which is Maori land administered by the Maori Trustee as an ahu whenua trust with over five hundred beneficiaries; and a block of general land owned by the estate of Francis Guthrie.
The High Court was told Mr Bruce Smith is a beneficiary of both the Waipaoa ahu whenua trust and the Guthrie estate. He had previously leased Waipaoa through a Guthrie estate-owned company. When this lease came to an end, he and his family refused to leave. Notices to quit were ignored. A locked gate was placed on a public bridge on a road passing through the Station. Police intervention was met with what was described as ‘aggressive and belligerent behaviour’. Mr Smith and his family issued trespass notices purporting to trespass the Maori Trustee from Waipaoa. Attempts to talk through the issues came to nothing; Mr Smith claims rights to the land and refused to give up possession. His whanau claim mana whenua; they invested in the land, worked it and lived on it, they said.
The Maori Trustee’s right to possession of Waipaoa had been decided by the Maori Land Court, Justice Grice said. Smith family appeals to the Maori Appellate Court were dismissed. Court orders were issued for the arrest of Bruce Smith, his wife and two of his children. Enforcement was suspended for six weeks to give Smith whanau time to reconsider.
Maori Trustee v. Smith – High Court (14.02.19)
19.040