Ngaitahu Claim Settlement Act (1944) This Act provided a means whereby the Crown would pay Ngai Tahu 10,000 pounds ($20,000) a year over 30 years (a total of 300,000 pounds). This figure was based on the Report of the Native Land Claims Commission, 1920 which concerned Kemp�s purchase of Canterbury and Otago. The report found that injustices had been done at the time of the purchase in 1848, and that a payment of 354,000 pounds in 1920 should be made to rectify the injustice. Unfortunately, the Depression occurred before payment was made. The Government made an offer to Ngai Tahu in 1935 of 100,00 pounds for a �full and final settlement� but this was rejected. It was not until 1944 that the matter was addressed again by Parliament when this Act was passed. In hindsight, the Government in 1973 admitted that �the so-called settlement of 1944 was by no means to be regarded as a fair and final settlement� and enacted the Maori Purposes Bill. Part of this Bill extended the annual $20,000 compensation into perpetuity, however the full and final settlement in 1998 extingished this annual payment. The following points are made: � The Government of 1944 again showed paternalistic leanings by not getting the approval of the Ngai Tahu people before passing this Act. � The original 1920 report which the annual payment of twenty thousand pounds was based upon, did not take into account the loss of Ngai Tahu�s food gathering rights guaranteed to them under the Treaty of Waitangi and so should have been for a much larger amount � 24 years passed before the report�s recommendations were acted upon, and no interest was paid for this time lag � the sum of 300,000 pounds (10,000 pounds a year over 30years) was considerable less that the 354,000 pounds calculated by the Commission in 1920 � inflation over 30 years meant that 10,000 pounds in 1974 had considerably less value than in 1944 � the �full and final� settlement in 1998 took into account the annual payment over the previous fifty-four years |