Excellent letter by D Gordon, The Weekend Sun 19 October.

He might be interested to know that there was a Raft Book issued to every Merchant ship and Aircraft crossing the Pacific Ocean during the War. It contained all the Maori navigation techniques. I rang the American Navy to try and get a copy after the War, to no avail.

Recently I was talking to a young Maori and jokingly said, 'I suppose you own the Pacific.” 'Oh yes,” he said, 'because we crossed it coming to New Zealand.” 'Well that's funny,” I replied, 'because I crossed it dozens of times in Merchant Ships during the War, and I don't think I owned it, especially as during a hurricane with 60 foot waves I didn't really care for it.”

He went away shaking his head.

RB Wyld, Tauranga