Sign of the times

We seem to have entered one of those moments in history where activists want to change the world to reflect the way they think. Unfortunately, some of these activists seem to have acquired a pocketful of race cards and are prepared to play them whenever necessary. Each time they play them their ‘‘argument’’ is watered down and I would suggest that there are many who simply switch off and get on with something else.

Captain Hamilton was no more a murderer than Te Rauparaha. They were men of their times.

One a commissioned officer in the English army and the other a powerful Maori leader. Both were colonising forces in their own way and their part in the history of New Zealand cannot be changed. It is what it is.

Pulling down statues and monuments, the latest ‘‘action de jour’’ of protesters around the world, is a sign that there are too many people with too much time on their hands. After they are removed, what are they to be replaced with? A blank space or a monument commemorating someone else who later turns out to have annoyed another group at some time. Changing street names because they reflect the past deeds of an individual that someone objects to is a pointless task.

Every town and city in the country seems to have a Victoria St and yet Queen Victoria is ultimately responsible for everything that happened in New Zealand during the bulk of the 19th century. That is, unless she wants to do a David Clark, but it is a bit late for that.

Perhaps, rather than destroy a piece of history we should add to it by placing a statue of Dame Whina nearby, thus balancing the two sides of the story, although her story is much more formidable than Captain Hamilton’s.

I have no objection to giving a town a dual name such as Hamilton and Kirikiriroa. Hamilton is the town and Kirikiriroa is the name of the original Maori settlement from which it evolved, which immediately suggests there is more to the story of Hamilton than just another English settlement on the banks of a river. But leave it at the level of the name of the towns. It seems to me that going down to every street and park will only create confusion, not only to the locals but to Google itself.

Geoff Orchard, Ohaupo