This month Peter Dey has sent Letters to the Editor in the Western BOP about the Treaty of Waitangi and the ‘Littlewood' draft.

But Dey does shoot himself in the foot. We know the ‘Littlewood' draft is not official. But the official English text is a ‘royal style' composite version cobbled together by Freeman.

The historical facts are:

1. Maori asked Wikatoria (Queen Victoria) to protect them from being annihilated from waring, murderous invading tribes and potentially invading French or Portugeuses settlement.
2. Governor Hobson was sent to bring agreement between Maori and the Crown.
3. Hobson after much note taking created the true ‘English draft' now known (and authenticated) as the ‘Littlewood' draft, signed by him on 4th Feb 1840.
4. That draft was given to Rev Williams and his son to translate into Maori.
5. Rev Williams translation was named Te Tiriti o Waitangi and eventually signed by 545 Rangatira throughout the country.
6. Fast forward to the 1960s/1970s when radical Maori became political activists resulting in Prime Minister Lange, legal mind Geoffrey Palmer and Robin Cooke at law created the ‘official' Treaty of Waitangi from the discredited Freemans ‘so called' English version.
7. The consequential and intervening Acts and Institutionalized amnesia that followed has seen 50 years of young minds (some now middle aged adults) educated to an untruthful history of New Zealand.

MJ Anderson, Pyes Pa.