I note with some amazement that the Rena wreck has somehow transgressed the Treaty of Waitangi.

Now the treaty was signed before such a ship or the fate of such a ship as the Rena could even be dreamt of or be predicted by the most clairvoyant among people at that time.

No such ships existed at the time of the signing, nor was there any kind of vessel that could carry so much oil to drive an engine that had been dreamt of at the time of the signing.

Can this paper or anyone produce a copy of that section of the treaty that covers an oil-carrying ship of such a size being wrecked on a reef?

Such constant rebarbative outrageous claims of treaty transgression have totally removed any dignity the treaty once had.

Alastair Bourne, Bethlehem.