Bruce Moon: Ngai Tahu’s river of cash

With assets now reported to exceed $1-billion and ability to trade as a tax-exempt charity, Ngai Tahu have become a financial force to be reckoned with, courted by public bodies. Reports that "Ngai Tahu are good for Dunedin" and complaints that Southland is missing out on their beneficence attest to this. Ngai Tahu greed appears to know no bounds and there is no sign that the flow of cash from taxpayers to the tribe is likely to end. Part two of this three-part series shows that the wealthy South Island tribe has been receiving settlements for 146 years.

1. Ngai Tahu complained that reserves allocated under the Kemp purchase 20 years earlier were inadequate and in 1868 a further 4,930 acres were granted. This was their first settlement.