From my discussions with officials in the Ministry in August 2006 I understand that the new Protected Objects Act processes are designed to speed up the process of determining custody and ownership, however I note that while there is now an obligation on the Chief Executive of the Ministry to take active steps to identify the owners, there is no timeframe within which this must be carried out.

54. In particular I am not aware of what extra resources (if any), the Ministry has to implement this new process and how the process will work in relation to how the Ministry will notify and consult with iwi over newly discovered taonga and in relation to the collections that have already built up.

55. It is acknowledged that the Protected Objects Amendment Act 2006 makes it possible to award shared or collective custody and ownership of taonga however it is again not clear what capability and resources the Ministry has to resolve disputed claims to custody or ownership should they arise and the practical impact of these new changes may therefore be minimal.

56. The Ministry currently has a register, which was known as the Antiquities Act Artifacts register and is now called the Register of Newly Found Taonga Tuturu. This register is kept for the purposes of recording data on each taonga discovered and registered with the Ministry since 1976. I understand that there are about 6000 items listed in this register for the whole of New Zealand. This register contains among other things the following information - Taonga (artifact) description; the taonga (artifact) type; the source environment it was discovered e.g. beach, urban, rural; antiquity number (or Z number as usually known); a Territorial district council name; the precise location where the object was found; the date it was recorded in the register; the finder and notifying body or person; the name and address of the present holder of the object; and the location of the object at the present time.