We've recently been subjected to ad nauseum to Gate Pa battle bumff via messrs Mikaere, Wilson etc.

The short Tauranga military campaign can be summarised succinctly as follows:
The NZ Government sent a substantial military force of Colonial and imperial troops to Tauranga in January 1864 to counter Maori insurgency.

On April 29, 1864, the NZ Government forces stormed the fortified Gate Pa site, being initially repulsed by Maori Kingite forces, who realising their days were numbered, scarpered overnight (a full retreat), finally being caught up with by government forces and roundly defeated at Te Ranga on June 21, 1864.

Gate Pa/Te Ranga statistics put government troop losses at 44 and Maori insurgent losses at 145, demonstrating who was victorious.

This campaign effectively finished the NZ wars, as far as Tauranga was concerned.
The following illustrates the overkill of current Gate Pa publicity:

Pythagoras' Theorem -24 words; Gettysburg Address - 267 words; US Declaration of Independence -1321 words; Magna Carta (including signatures)- 3856 words; History of NZ Wars – James Cowan (1870-1943), an authorative, definitive and reputable work: Chapter 42, Gate Pa and Te Ranga, pages 421-440 - 19 pages.

The five-part, 12-page Battle of Gate Pa lift-out, produced by the Pukehinahina trust - 60 pages and probably 30,000 words - seems disproportionate to the significance of the events.

Two weeks of revelry for something that has not previously been commemorated, when compared with our Kiwi National Day - one day; and Anzac remembrance Day - half-day - is way, way out of kilter.

R Paterson, Matapihi.