Captain Hamilton statue a 'ratepayer liability', mayor says
Sunday, 9 September 2018
Hamilton City councillors will debate the future of the Captain Hamilton statue as the mayor admits it has become a 'ratepayer liability'.
Mayor Andrew King has asked for a staff report on the damaged statue to be presented to elected members by November.
He won't rule out a councillor discussion over a new location for the statue.
Huntly activist Taitimu Maipi attacked the Captain Hamilton statue with a claw hammer and sprayed red paint on it in August.
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'In 2012, council accepted the gift of the statue that has now become a ratepayer liability,' King said on Sunday.
'It appears from the council minutes in 2012 that it was rushed through and that proper consultation with iwi may not have taken place. I believe the actions of [council] staff and police have defused a possible escalation of the incident and that has created a space for further dialogue. As elected members, we now have the opportunity to discuss where to from here.'
A former council adviser confirms Māori were not involved in the decision to erect the Captain Hamilton statue.
Last Thursday, Hamilton City Council released the minutes of the confidential 2012 meetings which says 'Tainui and local iwi advisers' played a part in the project.
But Wiremu Puke, a consultant with Ngā Mana Toopu o Kirikiriroa (NamTok), which had a service agreement with council at the time, said his group was never involved.
'I can't recall, actually, ever receiving or seeing a letter coming over,' Puke said. 'Certainly it didn't reach Ngā Mana Toopu.'
The $140,000 artwork was paid for by Gallagher Group and project managed by Mesh Sculpture Hamilton Trust. It was unveiled in 2013, a year before the 150-year celebrations of the naming of Hamilton City.
'It was for that silly 150 year thing, of which we were excluded again. It really is out of context. It should be across at Memorial Park,' Puke said.
NamTok is a trust formed by kaumātua and kuia of the five hapū whose traditional lands make up Hamilton. It includes Ngāti Wairere which, Puke said, has been acknowledged in the courts as mana whenua.
NamTok held a council contract for services up until the end of 2012. That contract has not been reinstated but it is 'still alive', Puke said, until both parties agree to breaking it.
'If that [statue] matter had come across, I certainly would have remembered it very clearly because of the implications and what it would have meant,' Puke said.
He said the decision should never had been made behind closed doors and having the statue in the city centre, on a site Ngāti Wairere revered for its fertile soils, is insulting.
'It's a vanity project,' he said.
King said debate over the future of the Captain Hamilton statue should not detract from the Gallagher Group's generous donation.
The Gallaghers have made an enormous contribution to the city over many years, he said.
'This is a council issue, not an issue where I want to see the people who have donated the statue be accused of ill intention. I think the council themselves appear, from the minutes, to have not consulted properly and rushed this through and I don't think that was wise.'