Post by Kiwi Frontline on Jan 15, 2017 5:28:08 GMT 12
Dear Editor, (Sent to the Sunday Star Times 8/1/17)
I read your editorial by Bevan Hurley this week with much surprise. He
comments on the Mad Butcher incident but not one word of the original
comment by Lara Wharepapa-Bridger which spawned the incident and which
has now grown legs.
When Mr. Leitch was joking with her about not drinking too much because
there were lots of police on the island - she said that "she was tangata
whenua and could do what she liked" and Mr. Leitch responded with a joke
about it being a white man's island also - with laws that need to be obeyed.
Your editor has added fuel to the fire by writing a very biased account
of an incident that should never have even reached the news.
ROBIN BISHOP
Tauranga
Dear Editor, (Sent to the NZ Herald Short & Sweet section 6/1/17)
As Ms.Lara Bridger stated to the Mad Butcher she was born on the Island and she was therefore Tangata Whenua, she has done all birthright Kiwis a huge favour because clearly based on her argument maori can no longer use this as a tool to gain or claim any special rights or race based privileges over their fellow Kiwis who are New Zealand born. QED"
GEOFF PARKER
Whangarei
Dear Editor (Sent to the Hawkes Bay Today 5/1/17)
Usual style needed for Maori word usage
What does the word “taonga” actually mean, and does the news media wish to communicate?
In her letter on Tuesday which amounted to a personal attack, Jacqueline Braid of Dunedin asserted that “taonga” means “treasure”.
But “taonga” also means “property” and “apparatus” and in the first Maori-English dictionary, it meant “property taken at the point of a spear”.
Moreover, treaty claimants have adopted a wider definition the word as “an object or natural resource which is highly prized”. This enables claims for anything not alluded to in the Treaty of Waitangi, such as radio spectrum.
Judith Smith’s letter pointed to a lax news media style which allows English and Maori words to be mixed in text under the assumption that everyone knows what the Maori words mean.
But the most recent census shows just three percent of the population is able to speak Maori.
This would suggest that we should continue to follow the usual style for introducing a non-English word into an English text.
This requires placing the meaning of that word in brackets after the first use of that word.
Following this usual style would enable news reports to communicate, not obfuscate.
MIKE BUTLER
Hastings
Dear Editor, (Sent to the Northern Advocate 5/1/17)
Maire Kaire 28/11/16 asked “what have Maori iwi gained from this marriage with National by backing this RMA reform?”
The answer below sourced from a NZCPR newsletter should set alarm bells ringing in all New Zealanders.
“The new ‘Iwi Participation Agreements’ will require democratically elected councils to seek the approval of unelected tribal representatives in all major decision-making. Even though many councils have more than a dozen tribes claiming an interest in their areas – each will be entitled to set up their own Agreements and be individually consulted.
These Agreements will also provide an accelerated pathway for tribal groups to become resource consenting authorities for fresh water and other natural resources. By using the RMA’s Section 33 ‘Transfer of Powers’, a tribe can become a full consenting authority, or by using Section 36B, they can become a joint consenting authority with their council.
The mechanisms that Nick Smith has included in the RMA will enable unelected race-based vested interests to take over resource consenting from democratically elected councils. That means hapless property owners will not only be forced to consult with councils, but with multiple tribes as well.”
In short, Minister Nick Smith’s deal with the separatist Maori Party includes race-based co-governance powers for Maori elite.
GEOFF PARKER
Kamo
Dear Editor (Sent to the Hawkes Bay Today 4/1/17
Jacqueline Braid of Dunedin, in reprimanding Judith Smith for her view of te reo, (HBT,3/1/17)seems unaware of the old adage that “One man’s meat is another man’s poison”. She can “treat te reo with mana” if she wants to but her demand that others do so is precisely the arrogance which she claims to deplore.
And yes, our primary school children are indeed indoctrinated with the statement that “taonga” means “treasure” but nobody tells them that in 1840 that was far from the truth when it meant no more than ordinary property which, by the Treaty of Waitangi, we all were and are entitled to possess. Its meaning changed rapidly afterwards to include the rich array of material goods which Europeans brought to New Zealand and continues to expand today to include everything anybody might desire.
Indeed recently a senior Auckland professor claimed that any Maori was entitled to kill and eat our beautiful native pigeons because they were a “taonga” guaranteed by the Treaty of Waitangi. This is an abuse of the meaning of the Treaty and defiance of the law which protects them but evidently Braid’s “appropriate usage” of te reo.
BRUCE MOON
Nelson
I read your editorial by Bevan Hurley this week with much surprise. He
comments on the Mad Butcher incident but not one word of the original
comment by Lara Wharepapa-Bridger which spawned the incident and which
has now grown legs.
When Mr. Leitch was joking with her about not drinking too much because
there were lots of police on the island - she said that "she was tangata
whenua and could do what she liked" and Mr. Leitch responded with a joke
about it being a white man's island also - with laws that need to be obeyed.
Your editor has added fuel to the fire by writing a very biased account
of an incident that should never have even reached the news.
ROBIN BISHOP
Tauranga
Dear Editor, (Sent to the NZ Herald Short & Sweet section 6/1/17)
As Ms.Lara Bridger stated to the Mad Butcher she was born on the Island and she was therefore Tangata Whenua, she has done all birthright Kiwis a huge favour because clearly based on her argument maori can no longer use this as a tool to gain or claim any special rights or race based privileges over their fellow Kiwis who are New Zealand born. QED"
GEOFF PARKER
Whangarei
Dear Editor (Sent to the Hawkes Bay Today 5/1/17)
Usual style needed for Maori word usage
What does the word “taonga” actually mean, and does the news media wish to communicate?
In her letter on Tuesday which amounted to a personal attack, Jacqueline Braid of Dunedin asserted that “taonga” means “treasure”.
But “taonga” also means “property” and “apparatus” and in the first Maori-English dictionary, it meant “property taken at the point of a spear”.
Moreover, treaty claimants have adopted a wider definition the word as “an object or natural resource which is highly prized”. This enables claims for anything not alluded to in the Treaty of Waitangi, such as radio spectrum.
Judith Smith’s letter pointed to a lax news media style which allows English and Maori words to be mixed in text under the assumption that everyone knows what the Maori words mean.
But the most recent census shows just three percent of the population is able to speak Maori.
This would suggest that we should continue to follow the usual style for introducing a non-English word into an English text.
This requires placing the meaning of that word in brackets after the first use of that word.
Following this usual style would enable news reports to communicate, not obfuscate.
MIKE BUTLER
Hastings
Dear Editor, (Sent to the Northern Advocate 5/1/17)
Maire Kaire 28/11/16 asked “what have Maori iwi gained from this marriage with National by backing this RMA reform?”
The answer below sourced from a NZCPR newsletter should set alarm bells ringing in all New Zealanders.
“The new ‘Iwi Participation Agreements’ will require democratically elected councils to seek the approval of unelected tribal representatives in all major decision-making. Even though many councils have more than a dozen tribes claiming an interest in their areas – each will be entitled to set up their own Agreements and be individually consulted.
These Agreements will also provide an accelerated pathway for tribal groups to become resource consenting authorities for fresh water and other natural resources. By using the RMA’s Section 33 ‘Transfer of Powers’, a tribe can become a full consenting authority, or by using Section 36B, they can become a joint consenting authority with their council.
The mechanisms that Nick Smith has included in the RMA will enable unelected race-based vested interests to take over resource consenting from democratically elected councils. That means hapless property owners will not only be forced to consult with councils, but with multiple tribes as well.”
In short, Minister Nick Smith’s deal with the separatist Maori Party includes race-based co-governance powers for Maori elite.
GEOFF PARKER
Kamo
Dear Editor (Sent to the Hawkes Bay Today 4/1/17
Jacqueline Braid of Dunedin, in reprimanding Judith Smith for her view of te reo, (HBT,3/1/17)seems unaware of the old adage that “One man’s meat is another man’s poison”. She can “treat te reo with mana” if she wants to but her demand that others do so is precisely the arrogance which she claims to deplore.
And yes, our primary school children are indeed indoctrinated with the statement that “taonga” means “treasure” but nobody tells them that in 1840 that was far from the truth when it meant no more than ordinary property which, by the Treaty of Waitangi, we all were and are entitled to possess. Its meaning changed rapidly afterwards to include the rich array of material goods which Europeans brought to New Zealand and continues to expand today to include everything anybody might desire.
Indeed recently a senior Auckland professor claimed that any Maori was entitled to kill and eat our beautiful native pigeons because they were a “taonga” guaranteed by the Treaty of Waitangi. This is an abuse of the meaning of the Treaty and defiance of the law which protects them but evidently Braid’s “appropriate usage” of te reo.
BRUCE MOON
Nelson