Post-election wash-up

It is interesting to see how the election is viewed overseas. The Guardian website reported that New Zealand is being put in the hands of a “cantankerous, anti-immigration politician who prefers fishing to politics”.

More than 90% of us did not vote for NZ First’s Winston Peters but yet again he is king- or queenmaker while the country waits. Juliet Crew (Papanui, Christchurch)

REMEMBERING THE RAJ

A lot can be learnt about the British occupation of India from Lord Thomas Macaulay’s brilliant 1840 essay on Lord Robert Clive, the colonial administrator (“The business of conquest”, September 30).

Clive prospered mightily in India at the expense of the Indians. The story is immensely complicated, and although we can be in no doubt that massive wealth existed alongside severe distress and very bad behaviour, we should note that, as governor of Bengal from 1765-67, Clive reorganised the colony, fought corruption and helped establish British power.

He faced charges of corruption when attacked by the British Parliament, but was exonerated. It was all very messy and strange.

I read the essay almost 70 years ago and have never been in any doubt that the British had plenty to answer for during their long reign in India. What also stuck in my mind, however, was Macaulay’s praise for the financial integrity of the British banking system in that era. Roger Ridley-Smith (Khandallah, Wellington)

WALL WHYS AND WHEREFORES

What is it about walls? I was around to see the Berlin Wall come down and I’ll be around long enough to see the Mexican wall not go up.

If US President Donald Trump read Julia Lovell’s The Great Wall: China Against the World 1000 BC-AD 2000, he would learn the only time an emperor built or extended the wall was when it was too late. The economic, military and moral decline of that particular dynasty had already passed the point of no return.

Building grand edifices to keep out invaders of whatever kind was only ever a publicrelations stunt to provide a false sense of security when the end was nigh. Norman Smith (Houghton Bay, Wellington)

DRIVING ROUND THE BEND

I’ve recently spent three weeks in the UK at the height of the tourist season, being driven by a cousin from Sydney along motorways and narrow country lanes and through suburbia and ancient county towns.

We commented daily on the same things: the courtesy accorded us by other motorists waving us through narrow streets with cars parked on either side; no red-light running or tailgating; how motorists wishing to merge with a stream of traffic merely needed to indicate to be let in; and indicating and correct give-way procedures at roundabouts.

I’ve often wondered what makes many Kiwis turn into complete tossers behind the wheel. Is it our competitive sporting streak, the “warrior” persona evident in other spheres of our society or just a death wish?

We could do much better. We’d all like to get to our destination alive and in one piece, thanks. Jenny Wallis (Mt Roskill, Auckland) LETTER OF THE WEEK

MONUMENTAL MATTERS

Thank you for the discussion of processes by which the country might deal constructively with monuments of our colonial past ( Editorial, September 23).

However, I am less sanguine than you that we, as a nation, do regret colonial repression and, by implication, wish to provide the restitution necessary for New Zealand to become the country envisaged by the authors of He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni (Declaration of Independence) and te Tiriti o Waitangi.

The Government has supported, and continues to support, moves that reinforce the injustices created by 19thcentury land confiscations, namely the New Plymouth District Council (Waitara Lands) Bill, which fails to return land to the hapu from which it was taken, and the creation of Special Housing Area 62 at Ihumatao, in Mangere.

In the latter case, the historical oppression that led to the acquisition of the land is being ignored and its sale treated as an everyday private transaction. Raymond Nairn (Mt Eden, Auckland)

It is fashionable to demonise all British actions during the 1860s Land Wars. The Rangiaowhia Affair of February 21, 1864, is a case in point (“Inglorious dastards”, Listener, February 25).

In recent times, a story has been circulating of a large number (100 or more) of unarmed Māori, mainly women and children, being herded into a church, the doors locked and the building burnt down in a raid led by British troops under the command of Lieutenant-General Duncan Cameron. This is disputed.

There are numerous official versions, including eyewitness

accounts, to be found on the internet. One in particular is worth reading. It is from the New Zealand Herald of April 6, 1864, some 16 days after the invasion.

“The churches still remain intact, two officers of the 50th regiment live in the Catholic church. The beautiful stained glass

windows of the English church are entire.”

Although there was loss of life at Rangiaowhia, any military historian would conclude that things could have been much worse and by and large Cameron’s troops showed restraint. Their objective on the day was to minimise losses while

disrupting the ability of the Māori combatants to wage war without food supplies.

Why should I care? I have two grandsons, direct descendants of Thomas Power and his wife Rahapa Te Hauata, who were central to the establishment of the village. I want them to know their