Post by Kiwi Frontline on May 7, 2017 5:39:52 GMT 12
Dear Editor, (Sent to the Wanganui Chronicle 27/4/17)
There is no excuse for the government and people such as Attorney General Chris Finlayson and leading Constitutional lawyer Geoffrey Palmer, the man trusted to write a new Constitution ignoring Queen Victoria’s Royal Charter/ Letters Patent dated the 16 November 1840. Surely they are not that ignorant of how new Zealand separated from New South Wales and became an independent British Colony with its own political, legal and justice systems. They must know the treaty o Waitangi only placed New Zealand under the laws and dependency of New South Wales from the 21 May until the 3 May 1841, just 12 months.
The Government, including Te Papa and our new Governor General , dame Patsy Reddy should know better than to refer to the Treaty o Waitangi as our “Founding Document” and :Partnership between Maori and the Crown” . Te Papa, our national Museum refusing to display Queen Victoria’s Royal Charter.
While the Treaty of Waitangi gave Britian sovereignty over all the islands of New Zealand and tangata maori, “the same rights as the people of England “ it was not our founding Document. It was an “agreement not a partnership between tangata Maori and Queen Victoria.
After each tangata Maori chief signed the treaty on the 6th February 1840 at Waitangi Lt. Governor Hobson shook their hand and repeated the words “He iwi tahi tatou – We are now one people” Tangata Maori became British Subjects and British Subjects cannot be in partnership with the Queen or the Monarchy.
IAN BROUGHAM, Tawhero
Dear Editor, (Sent to the Wanganui Chronicle 22/4/17)
Peter Rochford’s (22/417) esteemed Waitangi Tribunal is a pro-Maori lobby group that can only make recommendations. Unfortunately this handful of un-elected tribunal members have the exclusive authority to interpret the Treaty to suit agendas.
A Ngapuhi elder David Rankin had this to say about these so-called pillars of society, “The Tribunal makes up history as it goes along, it is a bully. go against it, and you will be labelled a racist or worse. It has turned out to be a body that is bringing in apartheid to New Zealand.”
Brian Priestley MBE said “It would be hard to imagine any public body less well-organised to get at the truth"
Dr Giselle Byrnes said. “Maori characters and stories are given much more emphasis and weight than Pakeha characters and stories. The reports increasingly champion or advocate the Maori cause."
Other notable historians who have questioned the academic integrity of the history produced by the Waitangi Tribunal are Keith Sorrenson, Michael Belgrave, Bill Oliver and Michael Bassett.
An increasing number of New Zealanders are now questioning the transfer of wealth to Maori elite often on the unchallenged findings of this biased tribunal.
To my knowledge no outsider is permitted to attend hearings or have any input into these claims, only the opportunist claimants, the Waitangi Tribunalists and the conflict of interest ex Ngai Tahu lawyer Chris Finlayson for the Crown. Fait accompli you might say.
GEOFF PARKER, Whangarei
To The Editor (Sent to the Wanganui Chronicle 22/4/17)
Peter Rochford letters to the editor Wanganui Chronicle (22.4.2017) and his criticism of John Robinson needs to be questioned.
Mr. Rochford mentions, if a false story is repeated often enough people will believe it and most of us new Zealanders know this is how the Waitangi Tribunal operates.
Most of us New Zealanders are aware of this therefore the stinging criticism of the Waitangi Tribunal from members of the public.
If your criticism of Mr. Robinson was based on fact and substance your argument would be believed but is unfortunately short on both.
Again Mr. Rochford you mention about the government appointed experts to the Tribunal and again one has to question that statement also.
One has to only look at the decisions coming out of the Waitangi Tribunal.
The government makes a lot of mistakes and some time they may be able cover them up but in the case of the Tribunal they cannot.
Do I need to say any more?
MIKE LALLY, Te Puke
Dear Editor, (Sent to the Taranaki Daily News 18/4/17)
Bill Simpson (“News”, 18/4/17), is wrong. I make one thing very clear to all readers. When Maori immigrants arrived, there were people here, some known as Ngati Hotu, with distinctive DNA. Again, our country is New Zealand - “Nu Tirani” in the Treaty. “Aotearoa” is only one of many names for the North Island.
He is also wrong in claiming that “In almost all cases Maori receive less than 2 per cent (if that) of the true loss of their lands”. The rough, unimproved land, most of which they sold eagerly, was worth about what they were paid for it. In Taranaki some land was paid for three times over to different claimants, as he ought to know. If he doesn’t he should refer to the July 1860 address by Ihaia Kirikumara and Tamati Tiraurau to the settlers of New Plymouth.
Nor were Maoris denied “their right to build an economy of their own”. The British model would have been rather better than the previous slave-based economy. Has he conveniently forgotten the devastation of Taranaki by Waikato tribes who were never asked to come, a few years before 1840, when 1300 at Pukerangiora were killed and eaten and a similar number enslaved and made to carry tattooed heads back to the Waikato heartlands?
Bill Simpson should also reflect that without a settler forebear named Simpson, he would not even be here. Time for him to “get real” eh?
BRUCE MOON, Nelson
There is no excuse for the government and people such as Attorney General Chris Finlayson and leading Constitutional lawyer Geoffrey Palmer, the man trusted to write a new Constitution ignoring Queen Victoria’s Royal Charter/ Letters Patent dated the 16 November 1840. Surely they are not that ignorant of how new Zealand separated from New South Wales and became an independent British Colony with its own political, legal and justice systems. They must know the treaty o Waitangi only placed New Zealand under the laws and dependency of New South Wales from the 21 May until the 3 May 1841, just 12 months.
The Government, including Te Papa and our new Governor General , dame Patsy Reddy should know better than to refer to the Treaty o Waitangi as our “Founding Document” and :Partnership between Maori and the Crown” . Te Papa, our national Museum refusing to display Queen Victoria’s Royal Charter.
While the Treaty of Waitangi gave Britian sovereignty over all the islands of New Zealand and tangata maori, “the same rights as the people of England “ it was not our founding Document. It was an “agreement not a partnership between tangata Maori and Queen Victoria.
After each tangata Maori chief signed the treaty on the 6th February 1840 at Waitangi Lt. Governor Hobson shook their hand and repeated the words “He iwi tahi tatou – We are now one people” Tangata Maori became British Subjects and British Subjects cannot be in partnership with the Queen or the Monarchy.
IAN BROUGHAM, Tawhero
Dear Editor, (Sent to the Wanganui Chronicle 22/4/17)
Peter Rochford’s (22/417) esteemed Waitangi Tribunal is a pro-Maori lobby group that can only make recommendations. Unfortunately this handful of un-elected tribunal members have the exclusive authority to interpret the Treaty to suit agendas.
A Ngapuhi elder David Rankin had this to say about these so-called pillars of society, “The Tribunal makes up history as it goes along, it is a bully. go against it, and you will be labelled a racist or worse. It has turned out to be a body that is bringing in apartheid to New Zealand.”
Brian Priestley MBE said “It would be hard to imagine any public body less well-organised to get at the truth"
Dr Giselle Byrnes said. “Maori characters and stories are given much more emphasis and weight than Pakeha characters and stories. The reports increasingly champion or advocate the Maori cause."
Other notable historians who have questioned the academic integrity of the history produced by the Waitangi Tribunal are Keith Sorrenson, Michael Belgrave, Bill Oliver and Michael Bassett.
An increasing number of New Zealanders are now questioning the transfer of wealth to Maori elite often on the unchallenged findings of this biased tribunal.
To my knowledge no outsider is permitted to attend hearings or have any input into these claims, only the opportunist claimants, the Waitangi Tribunalists and the conflict of interest ex Ngai Tahu lawyer Chris Finlayson for the Crown. Fait accompli you might say.
GEOFF PARKER, Whangarei
To The Editor (Sent to the Wanganui Chronicle 22/4/17)
Peter Rochford letters to the editor Wanganui Chronicle (22.4.2017) and his criticism of John Robinson needs to be questioned.
Mr. Rochford mentions, if a false story is repeated often enough people will believe it and most of us new Zealanders know this is how the Waitangi Tribunal operates.
Most of us New Zealanders are aware of this therefore the stinging criticism of the Waitangi Tribunal from members of the public.
If your criticism of Mr. Robinson was based on fact and substance your argument would be believed but is unfortunately short on both.
Again Mr. Rochford you mention about the government appointed experts to the Tribunal and again one has to question that statement also.
One has to only look at the decisions coming out of the Waitangi Tribunal.
The government makes a lot of mistakes and some time they may be able cover them up but in the case of the Tribunal they cannot.
Do I need to say any more?
MIKE LALLY, Te Puke
Dear Editor, (Sent to the Taranaki Daily News 18/4/17)
Bill Simpson (“News”, 18/4/17), is wrong. I make one thing very clear to all readers. When Maori immigrants arrived, there were people here, some known as Ngati Hotu, with distinctive DNA. Again, our country is New Zealand - “Nu Tirani” in the Treaty. “Aotearoa” is only one of many names for the North Island.
He is also wrong in claiming that “In almost all cases Maori receive less than 2 per cent (if that) of the true loss of their lands”. The rough, unimproved land, most of which they sold eagerly, was worth about what they were paid for it. In Taranaki some land was paid for three times over to different claimants, as he ought to know. If he doesn’t he should refer to the July 1860 address by Ihaia Kirikumara and Tamati Tiraurau to the settlers of New Plymouth.
Nor were Maoris denied “their right to build an economy of their own”. The British model would have been rather better than the previous slave-based economy. Has he conveniently forgotten the devastation of Taranaki by Waikato tribes who were never asked to come, a few years before 1840, when 1300 at Pukerangiora were killed and eaten and a similar number enslaved and made to carry tattooed heads back to the Waikato heartlands?
Bill Simpson should also reflect that without a settler forebear named Simpson, he would not even be here. Time for him to “get real” eh?
BRUCE MOON, Nelson