A group of King Country Maori continue to occupy a site at a Crafar farm which they say was stolen in the 19th century.
Edward
Moana-Emery of Ngati Rereahu says the farm was taken from his people in
1886 and a claim for the land had been lodged with the Waitangi
Tribunal.
He said they would be happy to buy the land if that was the option.
"We
just hope it doesn't carry on for another 126 years, and we have got
the money to buy these two farms back," he told Radio New Zealand.
"We
would like these two farms to be sold back to us, and we don't care how
many millions it costs us to actually buy them back because of the
cultural significance."
About 20 people had set up on Monday at
the farm near Benneydale, 35km southeast of Te Kuiti, and Mr Moana-Emery
said it was a peaceful occupation.
"We're not going to go and
tell the farm manager that he can't milk his cows ... we just want to
occupy the most sacred spot for Rereahu."
Michael Stiassny, a
spokesman for the Crafar farms' receivers Korda Mentha, Michael
Stiassny, said they were still trying to find out what the protest was
about.
The property is one of the 16 Crafar farms being contested
by Chinese company Shanghai Pengxin and a New Zealand consortium led by
Michael Fay.
The Overseas Investment Office, backed by two government ministers, approved the sale of the Crafar farms to Shanghai Pengxin.
But
the OIO was then told to reconsider its decision after Justice Forrest
Miller said in a High Court appeal launched by the Fay group that the
ministers "materially overstated" the economic benefit of the
transaction to the New Zealand economy, and applied the wrong test.
NZN