Post by Kiwi Frontline on Sept 18, 2016 9:06:58 GMT 12
Dear Editor, (Sent to Sunlive 9/3/16)
Minister of Maori Affairs, Chris Finlayson, has the effrontery to label as KKK (Klu Klux Klan) those taxpayers who strongly object to his cavalier use of their hard-earned money to satisfy spurious claims of illegal land confiscation by colonists from insatiable tribal leaders. This racist remark comes from a man who is guided by the most racist organisation in New Zealand, the Waitangi Tribunal.
One has to wonder just how much serious study of New Zealand history has been done by Finlayson. Is he not aware that only 4.5% of the entire land mass of New Zealand was confiscated and a large portion given back to Maori? When tribes rebelled and broke the Treaty covenants, Governor Gray warned them that land would be confiscated to pay for the cost of quelling the rebellion, and reimburse settlers for destruction of their property.
The fact that land owned by Maori was sold in hundreds of transactions is painstakingly recorded in the Turton Deeds posted for all to see on the electronic text centre of the Victoria University website. Even more ludicrous are claims based on present day value of lands. What was paid at the time is what it was considered to be worth at the time. Full stop.
Even worse is Finlayson`s statement that there are many more "claims" to be settled. These ought not to be done in secrecy behind closed doors, but openly debated with Finlayson on behalf of tribal leaders and a first-class lawyer debating on behalf of taxpayers.
M B
Tauranga
Dear Editor, Sent to the Wairarapa Times Age 7/3/16
Outing Fox on land claims
Maori Party co-leader Marama Fox should not repeat incorrect information in her defence of the Ture Whenua Maori Bill reforms.
Fox wrote: “95 per cent of our land was lost either by force or stealth”.
However, of New Zealand’s 26.8-million hectares, just 1.4-million hectares were confiscated during the 1860s wars, and much of that was returned at the time.
Approximately 1.47-million hectares remain as Maori land. This includes customary land.
The remaining 23.93-million hectares were sold, not “lost either by force or stealth” as Fox incorrectly claims.
The Ture Whenua Maori Bill reforms are to do with the 1.47-million hectares of Maori land that is often held in suspended animation by long lists of multiple owners,
Complaints about land sales by third parties not directly involved in the transaction never seem to end.
Governments have made numerous attempts, right back to the land commissioners after the treaty was signed, to ensure that any sales were fair and that Maori landowners who wished to sell could do so without such complaints.
But the complaints continue, with the only difference that disputes are heard in court and are no longer settled in battle.
MIKE BUTLER
Hastings
Minister of Maori Affairs, Chris Finlayson, has the effrontery to label as KKK (Klu Klux Klan) those taxpayers who strongly object to his cavalier use of their hard-earned money to satisfy spurious claims of illegal land confiscation by colonists from insatiable tribal leaders. This racist remark comes from a man who is guided by the most racist organisation in New Zealand, the Waitangi Tribunal.
One has to wonder just how much serious study of New Zealand history has been done by Finlayson. Is he not aware that only 4.5% of the entire land mass of New Zealand was confiscated and a large portion given back to Maori? When tribes rebelled and broke the Treaty covenants, Governor Gray warned them that land would be confiscated to pay for the cost of quelling the rebellion, and reimburse settlers for destruction of their property.
The fact that land owned by Maori was sold in hundreds of transactions is painstakingly recorded in the Turton Deeds posted for all to see on the electronic text centre of the Victoria University website. Even more ludicrous are claims based on present day value of lands. What was paid at the time is what it was considered to be worth at the time. Full stop.
Even worse is Finlayson`s statement that there are many more "claims" to be settled. These ought not to be done in secrecy behind closed doors, but openly debated with Finlayson on behalf of tribal leaders and a first-class lawyer debating on behalf of taxpayers.
M B
Tauranga
Dear Editor, Sent to the Wairarapa Times Age 7/3/16
Outing Fox on land claims
Maori Party co-leader Marama Fox should not repeat incorrect information in her defence of the Ture Whenua Maori Bill reforms.
Fox wrote: “95 per cent of our land was lost either by force or stealth”.
However, of New Zealand’s 26.8-million hectares, just 1.4-million hectares were confiscated during the 1860s wars, and much of that was returned at the time.
Approximately 1.47-million hectares remain as Maori land. This includes customary land.
The remaining 23.93-million hectares were sold, not “lost either by force or stealth” as Fox incorrectly claims.
The Ture Whenua Maori Bill reforms are to do with the 1.47-million hectares of Maori land that is often held in suspended animation by long lists of multiple owners,
Complaints about land sales by third parties not directly involved in the transaction never seem to end.
Governments have made numerous attempts, right back to the land commissioners after the treaty was signed, to ensure that any sales were fair and that Maori landowners who wished to sell could do so without such complaints.
But the complaints continue, with the only difference that disputes are heard in court and are no longer settled in battle.
MIKE BUTLER
Hastings