Mike Butler: Pre-colonisation, warts and all

That colonisation benefited Maori should be self-evident and there should be no need for a book such as The Benefits of Colonisation by Adam Plover. Sadly, a concerted and prolonged smear campaign by the decolonisation/Maori sovereignty movement has confused some so Plover wearily spells it all out in systematic and comprehensive manner.

The way to establish whether or not colonisation brought benefited or harm, according to Plover, simply is to look at how Maori were living pre-1840, and then look at progress after contact with new people, new ideas, new products, and a new way of life.

We can know how Maori lived before 1840 by reading evidence recorded by visitors from Britain at that time. These written accounts are readily available and include: