Post by Kiwi Frontline on Feb 20, 2019 5:57:38 GMT 12
Dear Editor, (Sent to the Wanganui Chronicle 15/2/19)
Potonga (alias Gary) Neilson (Chronicle, 15/2/19) may be right that there are some old kumara pits along the Taranaki coast but that is about all he says before drifting into fantasy.
As recorded by missionary Samuel Ironside who, unlike Potonga, lived in Taranaki in the 1850s: “They have now millions of acres of land unappropriated, not one tithe of which they can ever cultivate. This land has been a fruitful source of quarrel, bloodshed and violence.” And violence there certainly was. Has Potonga forgotten the capture of Pukerangiora pa, just a few years before 1840 when about 1300 defenders were killed and eaten by invaders from Waikato, an event which led to the virtual depopulation of the whole of south Taranaki. It is that sort of behaviour which “decimated the native population of this land” (to use his terminology), not any actions of the presumed wicked white colonials. Read John Robinson’s careful demographic analysis in “When two cultures meet” (Tross, 2012) if you doubt it – a vastly superior source of information to Potonga’s wild speculation.
BRUCE MOON, Nelson
Dear Editor, (Sent to the Northland Age, Dominion Post, Christchurch Press, and Otago Daily Times. 10-02-2019)
I have three questions: 1: What are the principles of, and 2: What is the partnership pertaining to the Treaty of Waitangi (how can we have a partnership if we are one people?), and 3: What percentage of Maori have benefitted from the billions of dollars (and counting) which have been handed out by the New Zealand taxpayer to them to date?
The treaty gave Maori people British citizenship, and saved them from harsh treatment from the most warlike among them (no need to go into explicit detail). It may be said that many, if not most, Maori were not warlike, but simply wanted to live in peace, as they do today. I challenge the Governor-General, Prime Minister, Parliamentarians, Historians, University Lecturers, Media Journalists, and anybody else to front up with definite answers. But I won’t hold my breath!
What percentage of Maori blood do they have in their veins? One leader has 1/16th Maori and the rest is, of course, 15/16ths “Pakeha”! One person in his tribe has 1/256th! One prime minister, when asked what constitutes a Maori, answered that “if you think you are Maori, you are Maori”. Another said that he would do something about the situation but, on becoming PM, did not want hokois from hell!
I understand that there some 4000 sites in New Zealand that may well prove that there were people here before the arrival of Maori, including a dormitory some 72 feet by 12 feet in Akaroa Harbour. It’s time to dig some of them up and put our true history to the test.
KEVAN G. MARKS, Kaipara.
sites.google.com/site/kiwifrontline/letters-submitted-to-newspapers/unpublished-letters
Potonga (alias Gary) Neilson (Chronicle, 15/2/19) may be right that there are some old kumara pits along the Taranaki coast but that is about all he says before drifting into fantasy.
As recorded by missionary Samuel Ironside who, unlike Potonga, lived in Taranaki in the 1850s: “They have now millions of acres of land unappropriated, not one tithe of which they can ever cultivate. This land has been a fruitful source of quarrel, bloodshed and violence.” And violence there certainly was. Has Potonga forgotten the capture of Pukerangiora pa, just a few years before 1840 when about 1300 defenders were killed and eaten by invaders from Waikato, an event which led to the virtual depopulation of the whole of south Taranaki. It is that sort of behaviour which “decimated the native population of this land” (to use his terminology), not any actions of the presumed wicked white colonials. Read John Robinson’s careful demographic analysis in “When two cultures meet” (Tross, 2012) if you doubt it – a vastly superior source of information to Potonga’s wild speculation.
BRUCE MOON, Nelson
Dear Editor, (Sent to the Northland Age, Dominion Post, Christchurch Press, and Otago Daily Times. 10-02-2019)
I have three questions: 1: What are the principles of, and 2: What is the partnership pertaining to the Treaty of Waitangi (how can we have a partnership if we are one people?), and 3: What percentage of Maori have benefitted from the billions of dollars (and counting) which have been handed out by the New Zealand taxpayer to them to date?
The treaty gave Maori people British citizenship, and saved them from harsh treatment from the most warlike among them (no need to go into explicit detail). It may be said that many, if not most, Maori were not warlike, but simply wanted to live in peace, as they do today. I challenge the Governor-General, Prime Minister, Parliamentarians, Historians, University Lecturers, Media Journalists, and anybody else to front up with definite answers. But I won’t hold my breath!
What percentage of Maori blood do they have in their veins? One leader has 1/16th Maori and the rest is, of course, 15/16ths “Pakeha”! One person in his tribe has 1/256th! One prime minister, when asked what constitutes a Maori, answered that “if you think you are Maori, you are Maori”. Another said that he would do something about the situation but, on becoming PM, did not want hokois from hell!
I understand that there some 4000 sites in New Zealand that may well prove that there were people here before the arrival of Maori, including a dormitory some 72 feet by 12 feet in Akaroa Harbour. It’s time to dig some of them up and put our true history to the test.
KEVAN G. MARKS, Kaipara.
sites.google.com/site/kiwifrontline/letters-submitted-to-newspapers/unpublished-letters