Tommy Kapai is looking into a very muddy crystal ball by claiming that by 2020 one in four New Zealanders will have a trace of Maori blood in them. A clear crystal ball shows that part-Maori today, through their intermarriage with a huge influx of people from countries such as China, Asia, Middle East etc. will mean that any claim to be Maori will be pathetic to say the least. Hopefully, we will then become a multicultural country of very mixed ethnicities but proud to call ourselves New Zealanders.. Let us hope that Maori whingers and compensationists will be a thing of the past.
Do part-Maori still on the gravy train, ever realise how fortunate they are to be saved from extinction by the British.? The Maori chiefs who begged Queen Victoria for help, were aware that they were heading towards obliteration with inter-tribal warfare, muskets and cannibalism. There are many Maori who are making good lives for themselves and embarrassed by the greed of others, especially the fact that the huge settlement money does not trickle down to those who need it most. Kapai moans that the Government (aka all of us) bailed out Canterbury Finance for $1.7 billion which he claims is more than Treaty settlements. Fact is Treaty settlements have cost (all of us) $39 billion in Forestries, Fisheries, land, buildings and money. As he says 'Kai for thought!” As for Ngai Tahu owning the South Island, the canny Scots of Dunedin will have something to say about that!

Mary Brooks, Avenues.