1. The Native Land Trust Board would like to issue the following statements in reply to the damaging article and editorial comments made by the Fiji Times on its issue of Wednesday, February 4 against the Board.

2. To state that Native Land disputes are spiralling out of control in the country (Fiji Times Editorial of 4/2/2004) is a gross distortion of the facts. As we have stated before, NLTB administers a total of over 31,000 leases. The Fiji Times might wish to undertake its own research to see how many of those leases were involved in disputes over, say, the last 12 months.

3. We have been saying all along that dispute or lease problem is usually related to:

4. In relation to the blocking of water supply that provides water to a settlement at Qerelevu in the interior of Ba, the truth of the matter are as follows:

5. The land the subject of the dispute was a former State Schedule B land (NLC lot 4; Sheet Reference H/14,2) that was reverted to native land on the passing of Bill Nos. 8 and 9 of 2002, Native Land Trust Act.

6. It was initially leased by the Lands Department to the Qerelevu Co-operative Society for grazing purposes for a term of 25 years from the 1st day of June 1963. It was later extended for a further term of 20 years from the 1st day of June 1988 with an annual rental of $1,300.00. Total area leased is 1,109 hectares.

7. The development of the water supply inclusive of the catchment area was carried out while the Lands Department was handling the administration of the land. The arrangement for the provision of water supply to the settlement and the school was made between themselves and the Co-operative Society.

8. In this instance, certain members of a landowning unit have gone on record as claiming ownership of the land and at the same time disrupted the supply of water from the catchment area without first seeking information and advise from our North/Western regional office at Lautoka on the matter.

9. We admit that NLTB may not have acted quickly enough in this particular instance. We are working on improvements in this area. It must be remembered that there are over 3,000 individual cases of such crown lands reverting to native owners that need to be dealt with.

10. A meeting with all stakeholders is being held in the DO's office today. Our advice to the landowners is to allow water to flow whilst discussions take place.

(K BAKANI)
GENERAL MANAGER
NATIVE LAND TRUST BOARD