It should be obvious to even the least mentally astute politician, public official or local councillor that, as indicated by the results of the five recent regional polls on establishing Maori wards, the majority of the population is against racially-based and biased legislation, yet governments seem to favour a Maori-slanted agenda. The same results have been shown in all other areas where similar polls were taken.

Surely the terms and concepts of Maori and Pakeha are anachronistic and we are all now New Zealanders, with equal rights and responsibilities. The idea that a person with one-eighth Maori ancestry should have privilege over one without Maori blood is absurd.

A census of seven million people world-wide found only one 33-year-old woman with exclusive Maori DNA. One can therefore dismiss the idea of full-blooded Maori.

Any legislation, government-approved schemes or national organisations that give exclusive advantage or special treatment to Maori are undemocratic and untenable. What other Western democracy is so ethnically divisive? Our claims to exclusivity should be that we are New Zealanders.

It is also time for the media to become objective in its reportage of ethnic issues and present fairly all points of view.

B Johnson, Omokoroa (Abridged).