Post by Kiwi Frontline on Jun 28, 2016 9:40:27 GMT 12
Waikato Times 28/6/16
LINDAUER SHOWER CURTAIN
Hone Harawira continues to be troubled with what he considers negative cultural appropriation of all things Maori. I thought I was thin skinned, but as a person hailing from the small tribes of Scotland and Ireland, I have yet to be upset by the plethora of jokes depicting my people as dumb, penny-pinching, ginger, hairy, skirt (kilt) wearing drunks. A friend of mine tells them magnificently and, incidentally, he’s Maori.
Mr Harawira also claims there is no money in having white people depicted on tablecloths and so that is why others use Maori images. He needs to do his research. There’s a roaring trade - always has been - of tea towels, napkins, mugs and the like depicting British Royalty - any royalty and culture, in fact. There’s even a tea towel on the market saying: Kate Loves Willy. Oh, the humanity of it! I’m going to jump out of the nearest window ... pity I live on the ground floor.
R M
Hamilton
Bay of Plenty Times 28/6/16
ORIGINS OF BATTLE NEED TELLING
The article telling of the commemoration of the Battle of Te Ranga (News, June 21), in which approximately 100 Maori were killed, fails to mention how the Battle came about.
On 21st June 1864 Colonel Greer was on a reconnaissance ride when he came upon a large number of Maori digging trenches in preparation for another battle, probably hoping to repeat their victory at Gate Pa.
Colonel Greer wisely gathered reinforcements and his army took the Maori by surprise. A bitter hand-to-hand battle followed with a victorious Britain. They humanely took the Maori wounded to hospital, saving some lives. The Maori surrendered and that battle brought peace to the Tauranga area.
Of course some land was confiscated — Maori did the same after a battle — but much was returned. (Abridged)
M B
Tauranga
Wanganui Chronicle 28/6/16
PARIHAKA HISTORY
I have just read the article by Whanganui MP Chester Borrows regarding the march to Parihaka (Chronicle, June 24) and am amazed at how little he knows of New Zealand's history.
Taranaki lost their lands to the Waikato in 1835, with those not killed or taken as slaves fleeing south. The few remaining Taranaki people, under the protection of Dickey Barrett, sold a large area of land to the New Zealand Company, which was later reduced in size by government after the Treaty of Waitangi was signed. The governor paid off the Waikato and gained ownership over the Taranaki lands, returning certain areas of the land to the returning slaves.
The Taranaki who had fled south asked if they could also return and the governor gave them permission on the under-standing that they settle on the north side of the Waitara River. They broke their promise and began fighting, destroying many innocent settlers' farms and killing their stock. Troops were brought in to quell these "rebels", confiscating some of the lands that had been returned to them.
Parihaka was built on government land, where the squatters continued to annoy the government by pulling out survey pegs and destroying farms and freshly planted crops. After some 16 years, a constabulary contingent marched in. Without casualties, Te Whiti was arrested and tried for sedition in New Plymouth and on September 14, 1881, was jailed for 14 months. When released, he returned to Parihaka but caused no more problems.
Mr Borrows also states Maori were "tangata whenua", but when the 500-plus chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 they acknowledged they were "tangata Maori". Rev Henry Williams also knew this when he translated the Treaty from English to Maori. There is no mention of tangata whenua in the Treaty, only a distinct race of people called "tangata Maori". This history can be found at Archives New Zealand, Wellington.
ROSS BAKER
One New Zealand Foundation
Palmerston North
Northland Age 28/6/16
VERBAL INVECTIVE
When viewing Nation (TV3 June 26), I was stunned to hear Marama Fox's verbal invective towards Dr Axel Gietz, representing Imperial Tobacco, who was brought from the UK to debate the tobacco industry's view.
The Maori Party co-leader's views were confrontational, accusative and verbally abusive to Dr Gietz. Ms Fox lays the blame for all negative statistics applied to Maori at the door of the tobacco industry and the European colonialists, while she personally participates in, and owns the very best of the positive aspects that the European culture has brought to New Zealand.
Her bad manners in throwing her toys from the cot and leaving the interview with a string of cultural abuse conveyed to the viewers the value of her tribalised input. It was pertinent that Lisa Owen, the interviewer, and Paddy Gower established that TV3 did not support personal attacks.
M J A
Pyes Pa
TWISTED HISTORY
Correspondent Wally hicks cherry picked quotes from his favorite site Te Ara (Letters June 23), and yet appears not to have read this from Te Ara www.teara.govtnz/en/1966Thongi-hika, which fully supports Bruce Moon's letters: "Te Hinaki and 2000 of his men, as well as many women and children, being killed. The victorious force remained on the battlefield eating the vanquished until they were driven off by the smell of decaying bodies."
He says, "We Pakeha are so superior, right? We always keep our promises. We never break treaties?" We Pakeha' are not the ones seeking compensation on dubious claims either, a point lost on those who rat out on their own race and culture for the warm glow that comes from lining up with supposedly "oppressed" peoples.
Whatever spin Mr Hicks cares to put on his twisted history, he and his fellow travellers cannot deny that it was European influence that ended Maori tribal warfare, slavery, infanticide and cannibalism.
GEOFFREY T PARKER
Kamo
LINDAUER SHOWER CURTAIN
Hone Harawira continues to be troubled with what he considers negative cultural appropriation of all things Maori. I thought I was thin skinned, but as a person hailing from the small tribes of Scotland and Ireland, I have yet to be upset by the plethora of jokes depicting my people as dumb, penny-pinching, ginger, hairy, skirt (kilt) wearing drunks. A friend of mine tells them magnificently and, incidentally, he’s Maori.
Mr Harawira also claims there is no money in having white people depicted on tablecloths and so that is why others use Maori images. He needs to do his research. There’s a roaring trade - always has been - of tea towels, napkins, mugs and the like depicting British Royalty - any royalty and culture, in fact. There’s even a tea towel on the market saying: Kate Loves Willy. Oh, the humanity of it! I’m going to jump out of the nearest window ... pity I live on the ground floor.
R M
Hamilton
Bay of Plenty Times 28/6/16
ORIGINS OF BATTLE NEED TELLING
The article telling of the commemoration of the Battle of Te Ranga (News, June 21), in which approximately 100 Maori were killed, fails to mention how the Battle came about.
On 21st June 1864 Colonel Greer was on a reconnaissance ride when he came upon a large number of Maori digging trenches in preparation for another battle, probably hoping to repeat their victory at Gate Pa.
Colonel Greer wisely gathered reinforcements and his army took the Maori by surprise. A bitter hand-to-hand battle followed with a victorious Britain. They humanely took the Maori wounded to hospital, saving some lives. The Maori surrendered and that battle brought peace to the Tauranga area.
Of course some land was confiscated — Maori did the same after a battle — but much was returned. (Abridged)
M B
Tauranga
Wanganui Chronicle 28/6/16
PARIHAKA HISTORY
I have just read the article by Whanganui MP Chester Borrows regarding the march to Parihaka (Chronicle, June 24) and am amazed at how little he knows of New Zealand's history.
Taranaki lost their lands to the Waikato in 1835, with those not killed or taken as slaves fleeing south. The few remaining Taranaki people, under the protection of Dickey Barrett, sold a large area of land to the New Zealand Company, which was later reduced in size by government after the Treaty of Waitangi was signed. The governor paid off the Waikato and gained ownership over the Taranaki lands, returning certain areas of the land to the returning slaves.
The Taranaki who had fled south asked if they could also return and the governor gave them permission on the under-standing that they settle on the north side of the Waitara River. They broke their promise and began fighting, destroying many innocent settlers' farms and killing their stock. Troops were brought in to quell these "rebels", confiscating some of the lands that had been returned to them.
Parihaka was built on government land, where the squatters continued to annoy the government by pulling out survey pegs and destroying farms and freshly planted crops. After some 16 years, a constabulary contingent marched in. Without casualties, Te Whiti was arrested and tried for sedition in New Plymouth and on September 14, 1881, was jailed for 14 months. When released, he returned to Parihaka but caused no more problems.
Mr Borrows also states Maori were "tangata whenua", but when the 500-plus chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 they acknowledged they were "tangata Maori". Rev Henry Williams also knew this when he translated the Treaty from English to Maori. There is no mention of tangata whenua in the Treaty, only a distinct race of people called "tangata Maori". This history can be found at Archives New Zealand, Wellington.
ROSS BAKER
One New Zealand Foundation
Palmerston North
Northland Age 28/6/16
VERBAL INVECTIVE
When viewing Nation (TV3 June 26), I was stunned to hear Marama Fox's verbal invective towards Dr Axel Gietz, representing Imperial Tobacco, who was brought from the UK to debate the tobacco industry's view.
The Maori Party co-leader's views were confrontational, accusative and verbally abusive to Dr Gietz. Ms Fox lays the blame for all negative statistics applied to Maori at the door of the tobacco industry and the European colonialists, while she personally participates in, and owns the very best of the positive aspects that the European culture has brought to New Zealand.
Her bad manners in throwing her toys from the cot and leaving the interview with a string of cultural abuse conveyed to the viewers the value of her tribalised input. It was pertinent that Lisa Owen, the interviewer, and Paddy Gower established that TV3 did not support personal attacks.
M J A
Pyes Pa
TWISTED HISTORY
Correspondent Wally hicks cherry picked quotes from his favorite site Te Ara (Letters June 23), and yet appears not to have read this from Te Ara www.teara.govtnz/en/1966Thongi-hika, which fully supports Bruce Moon's letters: "Te Hinaki and 2000 of his men, as well as many women and children, being killed. The victorious force remained on the battlefield eating the vanquished until they were driven off by the smell of decaying bodies."
He says, "We Pakeha are so superior, right? We always keep our promises. We never break treaties?" We Pakeha' are not the ones seeking compensation on dubious claims either, a point lost on those who rat out on their own race and culture for the warm glow that comes from lining up with supposedly "oppressed" peoples.
Whatever spin Mr Hicks cares to put on his twisted history, he and his fellow travellers cannot deny that it was European influence that ended Maori tribal warfare, slavery, infanticide and cannibalism.
GEOFFREY T PARKER
Kamo