Post by Kiwi Frontline on Jul 7, 2016 10:09:49 GMT 12
Northland Age 7/7/16
EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS
Wally Hicks (letters June 24) claims that my description of the butchery at Mauinaina is" disingenuous to say the very least. Designed, no doubt, to further frighten those who already share Moon's views anyhow."
Well, no, actually. l do not offer "views," but accounts from several historical sources, S Percy Smith, whom he presumes, not amongst them.
Hicks then attempts to shift the blame to Europeans, saying "This was the early colonial period. If it's a musket war it's part-European or colonial, not 'traditional'," and asks "What was it like before Europeans arrived?" The answer to that was supplied in 1771 by Lieutenant Roux, one of Marion Du Fresne's officers, who survived the killing and eating of his ill-fated captain. As he noted in his diary: the chiefs "declare war upon the slightest pretext, which wars are very bloody; they generally kill any prisoners they may capture."
Here are just a few quotations—selective of course, since I cannot throw several books at him. Re Mauinana in 1821: "It has been said that Hong Hika went to England in 1820 for the express purpose of obtaining arms, wherewith to combat his enemies of the Ngati-Whatua, who had beaten Nga-Puhi in the battle of Moremonui, in 1807, and also to strengthen himself against his other enemies of the Hauraki Gulf. So far as England was concerned, he was not very successful, though he was loaded with presents of other sorts which his friends there thought would be useful to him. In Sydney, however, he was able to gratify his desire for arms to a considerable extent, by exchanging his presents for muskets and powder. "The native accounts say that over a thousand of the Ngati-Paoa people fell in the taking of Mauinaina, and a traveller who visited the battle-field in 1844 records that the bone of 2000 men still lay whitening on the plain, and the ovens remain in which the flesh of the slaughtered was cooked for the horrible repasts of the victorious party."
Re: Matakitaki, 1822:
"It is stated that very soon after fire was opened on the pa, many of the Waikato people, who were now for the first time to see the effect of guns, began to leave, and as the firing increased a panic seized them, and they retired in such numbers that they pushed one another off the narrow bridge over the great ditch, when a dreadful scramble for life ensued in which many hundreds of people were trodden to death. "The ditch soon became full, and those underneath were trodden to death or smothered by the others. Some who were in the ditch escaped into the Waipa river, where they were shot by Nga-PuhL"
Hicks invites us to read about the Taranaki Wars. On the capture of Pukerangiora in 1831 we have:
"It is said that twelve hundred of Te Ati-Awa and their allied hapus were killed or captured in the final overthrow of the pa. The greater part of the prisoners were women and children, and these were driven back into the pa to be killed or tortured at leisure. That day Waikato glutted themselves on the bodies of the slain lying in gore around the pa.
"The next morning the prisoners were brought out, and those amongst them whose faces were well tattooed were decapitated on a block of wood, with the view of making mokaikai, or preserving them, as trophies to be taken back to the country of the Waikatos. Others, with little or none of this decoration, were immediately killed by a blow on the skull.
"It is asserted that Te Wherowhero, the head chief of Waikato and principal leader of the invaders, sat in the gateway of the pa, and as the prisoners were brought to him he killed one hundred and fifty of them by a blow on the head with his jadeite mere named 'Whakarewa,' and that he only desisted because his arm became swollen with the exercise. The headless bodies were thrown across a trench, which was dug to carry off the blood lying in pools about the plateau on which Puke-rangiora stood.
"Others, less fortunate, were killed with every conceivable form of torture; some again were cast into the ovens alive, to the amusement of their sanguinary foes. Young children and lads were cut open by incisions made hastily down the stomach, eviscerated and roasted on sticks placed round large fires, made of the pallisading of the pa."
Hicks finishes with more mumbo-jumbo from Herbert-Graves about her "new bi-culturally founded, multi-cultural written constitution." The best response to this is what the poet said: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Enough said?
BRUCE MOON
Nelson
The New Zealand Herald 7/7/16
STRUGGLING LANGUAGE
In the middle of another Maori Language Week I am astounded to hear only 4 per cent of New Zealanders speak the language and a Google search indicates the main speakers of the language are elderly Maori. Best estimates (Statistics NZ 2013) seem to be that only 21 per cent of Maori have a reasonable knowledge of the language and that only 11 per cent of Maori are fluent speakers
.
In spite of all the taxpayer funding for promotion of te reo over many years and the attempts to have the language taught in schools, no progress appears to have been made. It would seem that the majority of Maori themselves do not accept the need to learn and speak their own language. If this is so then as a taxpayer I would have to query the wisdom of continuing to fund the promotion of the Maori language.
R S
Remuera
Wanganui Chronicle 7/7/16
WELFARE CONCERNS
In reply to Janet Mace (Chronicle, July 5): The great Maori leader Sir Apirana Ngata, Minister of Native Affairs, warned of the dangers social welfare would bring to Maori, and it is sad that this situation has been allowed to develop.
Figures show benefit dependence among Maori is more than double the rate for the population as a whole, with Census figures from 2006 showing 27 per cent of Maori between the ages of 18 and 64 years are receiving a benefit compared to 12 per cent in the total population. One in three Maori women are on welfare, compared to one in five Maori men. If age is factored in, the highest welfare dependency rate is for Maori women in their 20s, with 40 per cent on welfare (largely the DPB), while for men the peak is in their 30s with 20 per cent on welfare.
The Treaty of Waitangi, which was only to give sovereignty of New Zealand to Britain and tangata Maori the same rights as the people of England, is being used/abused as our founding document. Our true founding document was Queen Victoria's Royal Charter/Letters Patent dated November 16, 1840 which separated New Zealand from New South Wales and made New Zealand into an independent British colony. (Abridged.)
ROSS BAKER
One New Zealand Foundation
EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS
Wally Hicks (letters June 24) claims that my description of the butchery at Mauinaina is" disingenuous to say the very least. Designed, no doubt, to further frighten those who already share Moon's views anyhow."
Well, no, actually. l do not offer "views," but accounts from several historical sources, S Percy Smith, whom he presumes, not amongst them.
Hicks then attempts to shift the blame to Europeans, saying "This was the early colonial period. If it's a musket war it's part-European or colonial, not 'traditional'," and asks "What was it like before Europeans arrived?" The answer to that was supplied in 1771 by Lieutenant Roux, one of Marion Du Fresne's officers, who survived the killing and eating of his ill-fated captain. As he noted in his diary: the chiefs "declare war upon the slightest pretext, which wars are very bloody; they generally kill any prisoners they may capture."
Here are just a few quotations—selective of course, since I cannot throw several books at him. Re Mauinana in 1821: "It has been said that Hong Hika went to England in 1820 for the express purpose of obtaining arms, wherewith to combat his enemies of the Ngati-Whatua, who had beaten Nga-Puhi in the battle of Moremonui, in 1807, and also to strengthen himself against his other enemies of the Hauraki Gulf. So far as England was concerned, he was not very successful, though he was loaded with presents of other sorts which his friends there thought would be useful to him. In Sydney, however, he was able to gratify his desire for arms to a considerable extent, by exchanging his presents for muskets and powder. "The native accounts say that over a thousand of the Ngati-Paoa people fell in the taking of Mauinaina, and a traveller who visited the battle-field in 1844 records that the bone of 2000 men still lay whitening on the plain, and the ovens remain in which the flesh of the slaughtered was cooked for the horrible repasts of the victorious party."
Re: Matakitaki, 1822:
"It is stated that very soon after fire was opened on the pa, many of the Waikato people, who were now for the first time to see the effect of guns, began to leave, and as the firing increased a panic seized them, and they retired in such numbers that they pushed one another off the narrow bridge over the great ditch, when a dreadful scramble for life ensued in which many hundreds of people were trodden to death. "The ditch soon became full, and those underneath were trodden to death or smothered by the others. Some who were in the ditch escaped into the Waipa river, where they were shot by Nga-PuhL"
Hicks invites us to read about the Taranaki Wars. On the capture of Pukerangiora in 1831 we have:
"It is said that twelve hundred of Te Ati-Awa and their allied hapus were killed or captured in the final overthrow of the pa. The greater part of the prisoners were women and children, and these were driven back into the pa to be killed or tortured at leisure. That day Waikato glutted themselves on the bodies of the slain lying in gore around the pa.
"The next morning the prisoners were brought out, and those amongst them whose faces were well tattooed were decapitated on a block of wood, with the view of making mokaikai, or preserving them, as trophies to be taken back to the country of the Waikatos. Others, with little or none of this decoration, were immediately killed by a blow on the skull.
"It is asserted that Te Wherowhero, the head chief of Waikato and principal leader of the invaders, sat in the gateway of the pa, and as the prisoners were brought to him he killed one hundred and fifty of them by a blow on the head with his jadeite mere named 'Whakarewa,' and that he only desisted because his arm became swollen with the exercise. The headless bodies were thrown across a trench, which was dug to carry off the blood lying in pools about the plateau on which Puke-rangiora stood.
"Others, less fortunate, were killed with every conceivable form of torture; some again were cast into the ovens alive, to the amusement of their sanguinary foes. Young children and lads were cut open by incisions made hastily down the stomach, eviscerated and roasted on sticks placed round large fires, made of the pallisading of the pa."
Hicks finishes with more mumbo-jumbo from Herbert-Graves about her "new bi-culturally founded, multi-cultural written constitution." The best response to this is what the poet said: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Enough said?
BRUCE MOON
Nelson
The New Zealand Herald 7/7/16
STRUGGLING LANGUAGE
In the middle of another Maori Language Week I am astounded to hear only 4 per cent of New Zealanders speak the language and a Google search indicates the main speakers of the language are elderly Maori. Best estimates (Statistics NZ 2013) seem to be that only 21 per cent of Maori have a reasonable knowledge of the language and that only 11 per cent of Maori are fluent speakers
.
In spite of all the taxpayer funding for promotion of te reo over many years and the attempts to have the language taught in schools, no progress appears to have been made. It would seem that the majority of Maori themselves do not accept the need to learn and speak their own language. If this is so then as a taxpayer I would have to query the wisdom of continuing to fund the promotion of the Maori language.
R S
Remuera
Wanganui Chronicle 7/7/16
WELFARE CONCERNS
In reply to Janet Mace (Chronicle, July 5): The great Maori leader Sir Apirana Ngata, Minister of Native Affairs, warned of the dangers social welfare would bring to Maori, and it is sad that this situation has been allowed to develop.
Figures show benefit dependence among Maori is more than double the rate for the population as a whole, with Census figures from 2006 showing 27 per cent of Maori between the ages of 18 and 64 years are receiving a benefit compared to 12 per cent in the total population. One in three Maori women are on welfare, compared to one in five Maori men. If age is factored in, the highest welfare dependency rate is for Maori women in their 20s, with 40 per cent on welfare (largely the DPB), while for men the peak is in their 30s with 20 per cent on welfare.
The Treaty of Waitangi, which was only to give sovereignty of New Zealand to Britain and tangata Maori the same rights as the people of England, is being used/abused as our founding document. Our true founding document was Queen Victoria's Royal Charter/Letters Patent dated November 16, 1840 which separated New Zealand from New South Wales and made New Zealand into an independent British colony. (Abridged.)
ROSS BAKER
One New Zealand Foundation