The Maori Trustee says it has accumulated $5 million in unclaimed dividends owed to 59,000 tangata whenua.
The announcement from Te Tumu Paeroa comes after the Atihau-Whanganui Incorporation recently declared it had more than $1.6 million in unclaimed dividends.
Te Tumu Paeroa chief executive Jamie Tuuta said a lot of tangata whenua did not know what they were entitled to.
Mr Tuuta said the problem became worse over time because succession fragmented within each whanau.
He said one solution was for those inheriting maori land shares to group their shares into a single whanau trust.
