The Destiny Stone

Chapter 2

Chapter Two

JULY 2004

The Migration Manipulation Program had run its course. Thousands of migrants had legitimately crossed into New Zealand. Hundreds of millions of dollars had clandestinely entered the country and been used to buy land, fund the research and secretly establish the first herd of bio-fuel cows in the world.

 But the program had taken an unexpected and unforeseen turn. Patrick O’Sullivan, the majority private shareholder in Dairytree, died suddenly. His shares in the business passed to his ex-wife, in accordance with his wishes.

 His last will and testament hadn’t imposed any conditions on the bequest. She, in turn, passed the holding to a Maori Iwi, in the knowledge they’d do nothing with the gift other than protect it from any exploitation which might put their own future at risk.

With Iwi representatives on the board of Dairytree for the past two years, even the most basic decisions required further ratification from tribal elders, and adherence to the Treaty of Waitangi had to be closely observed.

Senator Elmerstein had read about this Treaty. It was unique in the world, granting the indigenous Maori people of New Zealand distinct rights and privileges. It also stood in the way of America’s opportunity to once again become the richest and most powerful nation on the planet.

According to the briefing document he’d studied, the Treaty had been signed in 1840, giving the British sovereignty over New Zealand. In return, the Maori population had supposedly been granted rights as British subjects.

 In reality, the Treaty gave the colonial British, at the height of their Empire, virtually free rein over the land and natural resources of the twin islands. The Maori people soon became second–class citizens in their own country.

This situation lasted for nearly a hundred and thirty years until, in the mid nineteen seventies the Waitangi Tribunal was established to hear Maori claims that land had been taken from them unfairly, or illegally, or other actions had been taken against them by the British Crown which went against the principles of the Treaty.

Now, in the twenty first century, as the work of the Waitangi tribunal began to draw to a close, the Maori population were finally finding themselves in a far stronger position financially, politically, and culturally.

Maori board members of Dairytree felt their positions to be theirs of right. The fact they had acquired their position through Patrick O’Sullivan’s untimely demise, and not any legitimate Treaty claim was conveniently overlooked.

Whilst the true intention behind Dairytree’s existence was kept from Maori members, the other members of the Board found their manner, often interpreted as obstinate and self- serving was moving the focus away from the development of the modified milk process which, in turn, had ground to a halt.

Something had to be done, not just to remove them and their influence from Dairytree, but to make sure wider Maori communities weren’t able to stall the process even further by protesting or making dubious cultural claims against Dairytree’s intentions.

Elmerstein was frustrated. Why couldn’t these people just accept progress? What was so important about protecting the past? That’s what museums were for. If these people wanted to live in the dark ages they should give up their houses, their satellite TV and mobile phones and go back to living how they did a hundred years ago, if tradition was so important to them.

But this Treaty was a powerful and influential instrument. Its strands were clearly woven through many facets of everyday life, even in twenty-first century New Zealand.