Letters to the editor
Water conservation
I appreciate the write-up on the opinions of the councillors and the mayor on the issue of water meters. The journalist quoted me correctly but missed some vital points. My follow on comment was that refitting the whole of Hamilton City with water meters is probably cost prohibitive and I sure will not agree with increasing the rates to achieve this outcome. What I would like to see is more education around the importance of water.
Before I entered city council I thought that there is plenty of water flowing through Hamilton and what do we panic about.
Then I found out that it is a major cost to extract water from the river and make it drinkable.
Let’s wait for the outcome of the Government’s Three Waters Review and in the meantime look at ways of minimising our daily water consumption. Siggi Henry, Hamilton City Councillor
Too much deja vu
I read Tom Pullar-Strecher’s opinion on the likely future of Stuff with great interest. But I don’t think it was so good that it needed to be repeated in the same issue.
Phil Thompson, Hamilton
Editor responds: Agreed Phil. Longtime readers will know that sometimes stories are repeated in the same issue because different sections of the paper are processed in different areas of the country. People make mistakes. An explanation not an excuse.
PLO history
Today in History, dated 4th February 2019 , states the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) was founded in 1969.
This is historically incorrect and paints a picture that it was started as a result of Israel taking control of the West Bank and the Old City of Jerusalem. 1969 was when Arafat took over the organisation, he did not start it.
It was formed to remove the Jewish people from the land, as it is still trying to do today. Please print this letter so your readers can be properly informed of the history of the PLO.
Dennis McLeod, Hamilton
History and semantics
I fully support a return to teaching NZ history in our schools, provided it starts with substantial content about our preMaori history and avoids taking liberty with the term ‘‘indigenous people’’ when referring to Maori.
The Maori people are not: ‘‘1. naturally existing in a place or country rather than arriving from another place. 2. existing naturally or having always lived in a place; ‘‘ (both Cambridge & Collins dictionaries).
Increasing use of the term indigenous within NZ is actually an insult to the Australian Aboriginal people and dilutes their status and authenticity.
They did not come to Australia, conquer and cannibalise existing residents as the Maori did in NZ.
Our history started with early Chinese and various European-origin exploration of the southern seas before Maori landed here.
It is statistically improbable that people from these very early ships (some still on our shores) did not survive on land and form small colonies.
Maori should face up to the reality that they were just proud conquerors of other peoples, just as the Romans were.
There is no shame in that; just admit it. Being hell-bent on ramming this pseudo-indigenous fallacy down every New Zealander’s throat just erodes their credibility and respect by others.
Owen Jones, Ohaupo
The treaty
That the Prime Minister did not know the articles of the Treaty is not surprising as it appears neither does any other cabinet minister or member of parliament, otherwise they would not have allowed its corruption over the past fifty years. The Prime Minister, acknowledging that she could not quote the articles, said ‘‘I know the principles well’’. No principles are mentioned anywhere in the document. She is only perpetuating the erroneous inclusion of the fake principles and partnership in the document. The Treaty is not our founding document. Its sole purpose was to enable the chiefs to grant sovereignty to the Queen, in perpetuity, and in doing so New Zealand came under the legal control of the Colony of New South Wales.
Our ‘founding document’ is Queen Victoria’s Royal Charters/Letters Patent which made us a self-governing colony. This document has been hidden away in Archives and conveniently ignored by politicians and Maori Treaty revisionists. Bryan Johnson, Omokoroa