The writer of the letter in the Weekend Sun (11 May 2012) agrees that the Maori were 'badly treated by the British.”
However, and in no way intended as a justification, wasn't that the inevitable and tragic accompaniment to such historical invasions, all over the world?
History shows this. Some were more barbaric events than others, and left terrible consequences.
Nor could the Maori be portrayed as benevolent invaders, or kindly claimants of the land they 'appropriated”, at great cost to the rightful owners, let alone merciful to their victims - often their own kind. Nor was it necessarily a justifiable occurrence, but proof of their proud warrior status, or simple greed for someone else's land. More land. Or other justifications. The sporting events of the time? So it appears.
But why was it acceptable in the context of their own traditional life, to endure all the horrors involved in such events, as a fact of life, but not from the Colonists ?
The knives cut as deeply, whoever wielded them, and the cruelty and wounds were as devastating, whoever the victims were, or which side. Why the double standards, and why are some always kept 'in our faces”, as heinous crimes, while the other side is not acknowledged for what it was. A nasty, criminal fact of life.
Perhaps one day we will all face our own legacy in these things, and come to terms with each other's.

D. Holm, Tauranga.