British High Commissioner to New Zealand, Ms Laura Clarke's statement, 'What we did today, really acknowledged, perhaps properly for the first time, that nine people and nine ancestors were killed in those first meetings between Captain Cook and New Zealand Maori, and that is not how any of us would have wanted those first encounters to have happened”, shows how little she knows about New Zealand's true history

Yes, nine people were unfortunately killed during Captain Cook's first meeting with tangata Maori, but she completely overlooks that Britain was the salvation of the tangata Maori race.

Until Britain reluctantly became involved in New Zealand in 1833, Hongi Hika and Te Rauparaha had slaughtered over half the tangata Maori population. Britain stopped this slaughter within a few years with very little loss of life.

Britain should be extremely proud of how she saved a country completely out of control and a race of people heading for total extinction.

Ross Baker, researcher, One New Zealand Foundation Inc.