The whole issue of ‘The Foreshore and Seabed' would never have arisen had the true Tiriti o Waitangi, the one signed by the Chiefs, been correctly interpreted and made official.

It clearly stated that Maori were guaranteed full possession of their ‘land, dwellings and property' – no more.

The officially accepted version is only the English version cobbled together from the penultimate draft when the final draft went missing.

It alone mentions ‘fisheries and forests'.

The final draft, that formed the Maori version, has been located, ‘The Littlewood Draft', and verified as authentic but no government or official source has had the vision, courage and initiative to go against the wishes of a small but very powerful collection of Maori, Treaty revisionists, sympathetic academics, quasi- liberals and self-serving politicians to see it declared the official version.

With the irreversible treachery of John Key and his government in acceding to the Maori Party's wishes, we now have the minority 14 per cent of the country laying claim to large stretches of the coastline and most offshore islands including all those in the Waitemata Harbour and the Hauraki Gulf.

The Maori promise of free access to these places for all New Zealanders is not trusted by most citizens as too many iwi have already blocked off areas and made them only accessible by payment of Koha.

Maori spirituality, in many cases, seems closely aligned to their pockets.

Amateur fishermen should be less concerned about the reduction of the fish catch than their access to coastal launching places for their fishing craft.

Bryan Johnson, Omokoroa.