I am appalled at the effrontery of Tauranga Maori representatives arguing the debt-ridden Tauranga City Council should splurge $350,000 of ratepayers' money on a new shelter for the waka down at The Strand.

The council has already given $32,000 - plus thousands more from the Western Bay of Plenty District Council - to fund the drawn-out ‘commemorations' of the Battle of Gate Pa, to say nothing of the $38 million local iwi have been donated to settle alleged grievances.

Maori are only 14 per cent of the total population, so it is outrageous they keep demanding money for their own exclusive projects.

To say it will entice tourists is daydreaming.

The often very wealthy cruise passengers want more than a waka to entice them to stay in Tauranga rather than go to Rotorua.

A museum yes - now there's a thought.

We are a nation of ‘Do-It-Yourselfers'. Why can't local iwi get the young unemployed Maori to build the shelter - at their own expense out of treaty money?

Mary Brooks, Tauranga City.