Our triple star

Here we go again. Someone puzzling about the reference in the national anthem to Pacific’s triple star (Editorial, June 29).

If you look up the Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives files concerning the building of the New Zealand railways, you will find records of parliamentary arguments about the building of a railway in the Middle Island, going down to Dunedin. The navvies who immigrated on the Chile, which arrived in Napier in 1871, came to work on that project.

I have a photocopy of a ‘‘Map of the North Island of New Zealand. To accompany Survey Report 1881’’. The section I wanted was the lower North Island, but it happened to overlap the upper part of ‘‘Middle Island’’. I guess that people tend to forget that in the 1800s, Stewart Island was a hive of industry with whaling and sealing bringing prosperity. Pauline Schwabe, Paraparaumu

These days New Zealand is mainly secular country, so why do we need God to defend us? Moreover, there are many gods, and the Christian version is but one (Editorial, June 29). As the Irish comedian Dave Allen opined at the end of each of his television shows: ‘‘May your God be with you.’’

We don’t need to spend even a small portion of the $26 million that was needlessly spent on the flag referendum. But our coalition Government should ask for examples of both the music and words, for an alternative to our present dirge anthem God

defend New Zealand. After all, we will soon be a republic, and we must have a national anthem that reflects our coming of age. Brian Collins, Aro Valley [abridged]