On a trip to the King Country I became aware I was reading the road names in passing. Most are Maori and felt appropriate in that context.

It struck me the same applies in Tauranga. We naturally accept and use existing Maori street names. Why not?

The same applies to English ones. The emerging drive to change all street signs to bilingual forms is radical.

I see no valid reason for it, apart from a disturbing push to reassert old history and dominance.

It won't stop there, but is the thin edge of the wedge. Nor will assurance Maori will fund the vast undertaking.

Always remembering 'he who pays the piper, calls the tune” sooner or later, it would become very evident.

But what motivation or direction lies beneath this initiative is the big question we need to address.

D Holm, Tauranga.