REEF SHIPPING ACCUSED OF 'HELPING ITSELF' TO TAONGA NIUE

REEF SHIPPING ACCUSED OF 'HELPING ITSELF' TO TAONGA NIUE

Date: 26 January 2007

The Kiwi company, Reef Shipping, has today defended its decision to bring to New Zealand a large piece of indigenous rock (Makasea) from Niue.

The actions of the company, who has business interests in Niue, has led to some locals saying it helped itself to Taonga Niue.

The large piece of Makasea ... white rock that's found only on Niue and which locals used to pave the roads with before they were tar sealed ... was today gifted by Reef to a naturopathy school in Ellerslie, Auckland.

Kieron Gilpin, group general manager for Reef, says they didn't mean to offend locals and that they got the rock from the Government Quarry, in Alofi, where a crew had been dynamiting.

Gilpin says the idea of gifting the rock to the South Pacific School of Natural Therapy came up when one of their managers was talking to the school and they mentioned they wanted something Pacific for their grounds.

He says they promised the school they'd get them something from Niue.

Gilpin says they had asked the crew working at the quarry if they could take the rock away with them and were told "yes." They later told the Niue Government, who assured them it was okay.

A family on the island has, however, has accused Reef of "stealing", saying the land in question has only been leased to the Government and that in effect, the rock belongs to them.

Julie Talagi, who emailed the company, says the Makasea is a national heritage and that in other countries, including New Zealand, Reef would not have been able to do what it did.