Ngati Porou and Cook

What a shocking indictment of international relations it is when a foreign government feels obligated, for political appeasement, to express national guilt for a minor incident that occurred 250 years ago to the part-descendants of a tribal culture that was known for ritual killings, infanticide, slavery, the slaughter of whole tribes defeated in battle and cannibalism.

Nine killed or wounded. Internecine battles between tribes often saw hundreds killed and eaten or enslaved.

This state of affairs becomes more bizarre when those claiming offence are in all cases part-descendants of the colonists, those people that they vilify.

If Cook's reportage had not encouraged the advent of European settlers the warring tribes would have eventually exterminated each other.

When is sanity going to return to our community and avaricious racial separatists going to cease their illogical demands?

B Johnson, Omokoroa.

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5 comments

A little balance

Posted on 11-10-2019 13:40 | By Brian Porter

To get a little balance, perhaps those protesters should do a little reading on incidents such as the 1843 Wairau Massacre.


Some more balance

Posted on 14-10-2019 08:08 | By Peter Dey

Brian Porter could balance the Wairau massacre by mentioning the Te Porere massacre of Te Kooti's followers.


False equivalence

Posted on 15-10-2019 11:32 | By R. Bell

Accusing Maori of brutality and ignoring the brutality of the European is the only way B.Johnson and B. Porter can justify their prejudice. Wairau was not a massacre it was yet another example of European greed for land, and disregard for Maori. They got what they deserved. As for Maori exterminating themselves, how ridiculous, the estimated number of Maori arriving in about 1280 was in the several hundreds. In 1843 Williams estimated there to be about 200,000. Doesn't sound like self extermination to me.


The thing Mr Bell is....

Posted on 15-10-2019 20:36 | By groutby

...at least as far as NZ history suggests, Maori slaughtered many prisoners, hardly an act of civilised warfare is it?..and if 'what they deserved' in your view is a brutal death, then not at all surprising that there was ongoing retaliation, and a very sad view to have. As for the 'massacre' of Te Kooti's followers, it would seem that he was seen as an enemy of many Maori, as there were at least two other tribes fully involved in this incident against Te Kooti with support from government troops...almost an inter-tribal war one could say...not at all balanced is it?


Two wrongs

Posted on 16-10-2019 11:35 | By R. Bell

don't make a right, groutby. When a fully armed posse of vigilantes confronts people defending their land your gonna get trouble. second wrong, killing the wife of a family member tends to make people real mad, result, brutal retaliation. No Geneva convention in those days, just hard nosed killers on both sides, who couldn't give a toss about balance, hence the "civilised" posse got what it deserved, sad as that is.


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