M Lally (The Weekend Sun, December 15) refers to ‘one country, one people' in relation to Maori electoral wards. We were two peoples, Maori and Pakeha, at the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, and since 1975 our parliament and courts have made that New Zealand law. Our government is required to deal with the Maori people as treaty partners, and consult with them in good faith. There is no record, at the signing of the treaty, of Governor Hobson saying in Maori "we are one people". That was only introduced into the record 50 years later, in 1890, when Pakeha believed that Maori culture was dying. (Check 'debunking the one people myth' on Google). It is a tribute to the Maori people that their language and culture have survived, "bloodied but unbowed", and are still going strong. All around the world separate cultures co-exist in harmony and with no desire to be "one people".
P Dey, Welcome Bay.
5 comments
Maori people as treaty partners,
Posted on 22-12-2017 10:49 | By crazyhorse
There is no record, at the signing of the treaty, of Governor Hobson saying in Maori that the crown and maori are partners, or, have a partnership.
@ Crazyhorse
Posted on 22-12-2017 12:16 | By MISS ADVENTURE
You are right, however Peter is allowed to make it all up as he goes, dont you dare question anything he says else you will be a racist.
@ crazyhorse
Posted on 05-01-2018 14:15 | By waxing
No but it was and is a fair interpretation of the Treaty, supported by the courts, on the basis of the Preamble's statement of Queen Victoria being "anxious" to protect the "just Rights and Property" of chiefs and their tribes and then the subsequent further detailing of these in the Articles. Certainly P Dey is right - there is no record of Hobson saying "we are one people" either generally or to each chief after they have signed. This has simply been a re-writing of history to suit certain views and crazyhorse and Miss Adventure know only too well.
LOL, HISTORY, WHAT HISTORY?.
Posted on 09-01-2018 13:27 | By crazyhorse
A fair interpretation of the Treaty says Waxo, a great example of an apologist here, now all of a sudden it doesn't matter what Hobson said, or, did not say!.
@ Captain
Posted on 09-01-2018 19:25 | By waxing
People like you and One Nation are the only ones concerned with what Hobson supposedly said. But there is no record at the time of him saying it. It only came up 50 years after the Treaty was signed. So who is the apologist now?
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