A large Whanganui Maori land incorporation has accumulated more than $1.5 million of unclaimed dividends due to what it says are beneficiaries who have fallen off the radar.
At its recent annual general meeting the Atihau-Whanganui Incorporation declared that it had $1,654,103 of unclaimed dividends, handed over by the charitable arm, Atihau Trust.
In previous years the funds relating to unclaimed dividends had been loaned to the Atihau Trust to invest.
But from this year it has decided to return the funds to the incorporation.
The incorporation said from past experience, it was unlikely that a material proportion of the funds would be claimed.
And it said it was likely the money would be used for education and sports grants to Atihau-Whanganui beneficiaries and their descendants.
The incorporation said the money had been accumulating for decades, and each year between $20,000 and $30,000 worth of dividends remained unclaimed.