Mary Brooks of Tauranga says Bruce Moon of Nelson has set forth the 'true wording” of the 'real” Treaty of Waitangi which is being continually distorted by Maori. There is no 'true wording” only interpretation that is extracted and acted upon in accordance with the documents three articles. There is of course more than one treaty, Te Tiriti o Waitangi allowed the English to come here and live without interference, the so called 'real” Treaty of Waitangi asked for the sovereignty of Maori to be relinquished and conceptually extinguished for all purposes. This is the power/curse of the English Treaty. These distortions may be seen as interpretations and vice versa depending on your point of view. Unfortunately for Maori it was to their own demise that they could not extract the most simplistic of objectives from the document. Let alone from the desperate souls whose lust for wealth and possession saw no end to the lengths they would go to in an all-out national effort to secure their own future at the expense of, yet again, another Indigenous group. Mary claims Maori 'Taonga” in her ever narrowing mind comprised of flax, potatoes, pork and timber no more no less, she is clearly ignorant if not arrogant about what Taonga is so I will put it in terms she may be able to understand. Maori Taonga is made up of every resource the English wanted starting with the land 66,400,000 acres.

Richard Matthews, Tauranga.