Church should pay

Last week's letters (The Weekend Sun, November 9) suggest we upset the Anglican and tribal elites by our earlier statement that, as the fee simple owner of the Tauranga land that it sold to the government in 1867, the Anglican Church did not need to get the approval of the local sub-tribes for its sale.

P Dey wrote 'the original purchase came with an agreement that the land would be used for Church purposes". I would like to see this ‘agreement' – in writing please, as oral history is notoriously unreliable.

If the Anglican Church persists in saying it was holding the land "in trust" for the sub-tribes, and that trust was violated by its 1867 sale to the government, then that would be the fault of the Church, not the Crown, and any compensation should come from the Church, not the taxpayer.

Instead the Church is supporting an application to the Waitangi Tribunal by Nga Tamarawaho and Ngati Tapu to sting the taxpayer for several million dollars. Let the Church put its money where its mouth is. A good start would be to hand over its $6 million Holy Trinity convention centre to the two sub-tribes that it is so keen to enrich.

J McLean, Wellington (Abridged)

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1 comment

So, will we see it??

Posted on 16-11-2018 15:21 | By crazyhorse

What do you think campers, Pete says the original deed of sale came with conditions that the land would be used for Church purposes only, now if this document truly exists it ends the debate, well not really, I bet the church's culturally hypnotised minions will lose a bit of "enthusiasm" if it's them and not 'us' shelling out the big bucks to the "tribal elite! we all love throwing money around if it's not ours, watch this space for a document from Pete, or, lack of lol.


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