The Governor General, Dame Patsy Reddy, in her Waitangi Day Speech, has suggested changing the national anthem to include both partners of the Treaty.

In her inaugural speech she had already misinterpreted the meaning of the Treaty by speaking of: ‘the unique partnership between Maori and the Crown'. In doing so she made her position as the Queen's representative redundant.

She has no more legal or social standing than the head of the Otahuhu Chapter of Black Power.

None of the three clauses of the Treaty mentions partnership. The terms used are ‘sovereign' and ‘subject.' The fact is that a subject cannot be a partner of the Sovereign. This is a semantic anomaly.

No amount of subsequent political jiggery-pokery can alter this historical fact.

When queried at the time, about this dichotomy, her secretary refused to answer on her behalf.

Just because, when asked, the Prime Minister did not know the three clauses of the Treaty that her government promotes it does not mean that the rest of the country should remain in ignorance.

Check it out.

B Johnson, Omokoroa.