Post by Kiwi Frontline on Jul 27, 2019 6:30:20 GMT 12
Dominion Post 27/7/19
OPINIONS, NOT FACTS
A key lesson that history students learn at school is the difference between fact and opinion, and they are encouraged to base their writing on the former.
Unfortunately it is a practice Vincent O'Malley has trouble with He was extensively quoted in Ihumotao dispute explained (July 26).
He claims that his Great War for New Zealand is the first full-length overview of the Waikato Wars since 1879. However, the seminal work on the wars is Cowan's The New Zealand Wars (1922).
O'Malley has strong opinions on George Grey which may be based on his self-confessed dislike of the British. Statements like "the master of deception and fraud" and "a trail of lies and deceit" are unsupported by facts. Grey worked hard to establish good relations with Maori in his terms as governor and premier.
O'Malley's statements about Rangiaowhia are also not backed by evidence, and his statement "There were no fighters there", is disputed by other historians. They state that Maori actually fired from the church and also from the whare where O'Malley claims another group was burnt alive.
ROGER CHILDS, Raumatl Beach
RMA WARNING
So the kite has been flown that the Resource Management Act be "ripped apart" and urban development be taken outside the act.
Just look at the "success" of the so-called Housing Accord and Special Housing Areas legislation that not only bypassed the RMA but trampled people's democratic rights.
It created monstrosities like the Shelly Bay development, now mired in the courts with little prospect of proceeding Environment Minister David Parker declares he wants to cut complexity, reduce compliance costs and better protect the environment and who wouldn't want this?
Trouble is, that development is a invariably a complex issue with many conflicting interests, particularly the basic dichotomy between "progress", or development, and the environment.
We see this being played out in the battle over the development of "affordable housing" at the Ihumatao block in Auckland.
That dispute has at its centre the added incendiary ingredient of conflicting Maori interests and rights.
The problem with all development is that, once it is consented, it is there forever. It can't be undone. No-one likes the time and cost of the consenting process, but if legitimate rights and interests are not addressed in a democratic process, there will be trouble down the track.
SIMON LOUISSON, Seatoun
Bay of Plenty Times 27/7/19
DISCOVERIES
Tommy Wilson's repudiation of Cook's -discoveries" (Opinion. July 19) requires a response. “Discovery” implies the act of disclosure. A discovery which only remains known to the discoverer cannot in truth be termed a "discovery”.
The voyages of Columbus, Magellan, Tasman, and Cook brought to the knowledge of the Europeans and others including the Polynesians — of a world, peoples and lands. previously unknown to them.
The exploratory voyages of the Europeans stemmed from the 17th century period of "Enlightenment” with increasing scientific inquiries from the like of Galileo, Newton. Copernicus, Descartes and others.
A major aim of Cook's voyage was to extend this knowledge through tracking the path of the eclipse of Venus across the sun.
The voyages and discoveries of the Polynesians - and of the Australian Aborigines were of limited extent, remained known only to them and were only recorded in verbal memory unlike the Europeans with written texts.
EDDIE ORSULICH, Otumoetai
sites.google.com/site/kiwifrontline/letters-submitted-to-newspapers
OPINIONS, NOT FACTS
A key lesson that history students learn at school is the difference between fact and opinion, and they are encouraged to base their writing on the former.
Unfortunately it is a practice Vincent O'Malley has trouble with He was extensively quoted in Ihumotao dispute explained (July 26).
He claims that his Great War for New Zealand is the first full-length overview of the Waikato Wars since 1879. However, the seminal work on the wars is Cowan's The New Zealand Wars (1922).
O'Malley has strong opinions on George Grey which may be based on his self-confessed dislike of the British. Statements like "the master of deception and fraud" and "a trail of lies and deceit" are unsupported by facts. Grey worked hard to establish good relations with Maori in his terms as governor and premier.
O'Malley's statements about Rangiaowhia are also not backed by evidence, and his statement "There were no fighters there", is disputed by other historians. They state that Maori actually fired from the church and also from the whare where O'Malley claims another group was burnt alive.
ROGER CHILDS, Raumatl Beach
RMA WARNING
So the kite has been flown that the Resource Management Act be "ripped apart" and urban development be taken outside the act.
Just look at the "success" of the so-called Housing Accord and Special Housing Areas legislation that not only bypassed the RMA but trampled people's democratic rights.
It created monstrosities like the Shelly Bay development, now mired in the courts with little prospect of proceeding Environment Minister David Parker declares he wants to cut complexity, reduce compliance costs and better protect the environment and who wouldn't want this?
Trouble is, that development is a invariably a complex issue with many conflicting interests, particularly the basic dichotomy between "progress", or development, and the environment.
We see this being played out in the battle over the development of "affordable housing" at the Ihumatao block in Auckland.
That dispute has at its centre the added incendiary ingredient of conflicting Maori interests and rights.
The problem with all development is that, once it is consented, it is there forever. It can't be undone. No-one likes the time and cost of the consenting process, but if legitimate rights and interests are not addressed in a democratic process, there will be trouble down the track.
SIMON LOUISSON, Seatoun
Bay of Plenty Times 27/7/19
DISCOVERIES
Tommy Wilson's repudiation of Cook's -discoveries" (Opinion. July 19) requires a response. “Discovery” implies the act of disclosure. A discovery which only remains known to the discoverer cannot in truth be termed a "discovery”.
The voyages of Columbus, Magellan, Tasman, and Cook brought to the knowledge of the Europeans and others including the Polynesians — of a world, peoples and lands. previously unknown to them.
The exploratory voyages of the Europeans stemmed from the 17th century period of "Enlightenment” with increasing scientific inquiries from the like of Galileo, Newton. Copernicus, Descartes and others.
A major aim of Cook's voyage was to extend this knowledge through tracking the path of the eclipse of Venus across the sun.
The voyages and discoveries of the Polynesians - and of the Australian Aborigines were of limited extent, remained known only to them and were only recorded in verbal memory unlike the Europeans with written texts.
EDDIE ORSULICH, Otumoetai
sites.google.com/site/kiwifrontline/letters-submitted-to-newspapers