Strange obsession with Gallipoli

Thanks to Dave Armstrong (October 12) for his reminder about the need to remember the New Zealand Wars. This drawnout civil conflict, plus the earlier catastrophic Musket Wars, probably killed more New Zealanders than all the other wars put together.

When we remember war service and casualties we have a strange obsession with the disastrous Gallipoli campaign.

It’s equivalent to the Germans commemorating Stalingrad and the French, Waterloo.

The New Zealand Wars have been brought into sharper focus with the recent publication of Ron Crosby’s book Kupapa. Perhaps it is some of the uncomfortable realities of who was fighting who that make it convenient to forget about our founding wars.

Crosby points out that more Maori supported British, and later New Zealand government forces, than opposed them. Also, most of fighting was Maori against Maori and in the last few years only Maori were involved in hunting down Te Kooti’s warriors.

New Zealand’s experience of war began long before the South Africa War.

We have many battle sites on our own soil, including more than 500 in the Musket Wars, and there may have been as many as 30,000 deaths in these conflicts.

ROGER CHILDS

For the economy to improve, New Zealand needs overseas investment.

However, this poses a serious danger in that if large sums of money poured into New Zealand ventures without the dollar being linked to the main trading currencies, then our dollar value would skyrocket and once again put our export industry into serious jeopardy.

In addition, if the TPPA were to be ratified it would mean that we would lose another sovereign right, this time the right to control the ownership of New Zealand’s heritage. Overseas investors would be free to pour money into New Zealand through purchases of land.

However, the TPPA is unfairly balanced as New Zealanders would not have reciprocal rights to buy land in most other member countries.

BARRINGTON PRINCE

Raumati Beach

Waikanae Beach