Clive Bibby: Time passes but real friendships endure

A recent encounter with an old school mate from 1958 has provided the opportunity to share a story which reflects on a bygone era that helped to make us what we are today.

Sadly, due to the selfish and deliberately divisive activities of some modern politicians and community leaders, those days of racial harmony appear lost forever.

Barrie Davis: “Becoming Aotearoa” - a Book Review

We sometimes read that the history of New Zealand is being rewritten. The title of Michael Belgrave’s 2024 book Becoming Aotearoa: A New History of New Zealand leaves no doubt that is the case.

The first sentence of the Preface reads:

 

“This history of Aotearoa New Zealand is a response to crisis: the massacre of 51 Muslim worshippers in Christchurch on 15 March 2019 and the ongoing uncertainty which has followed it.”

Tim Wikiriwhi: Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill - submission

Public Submission.
To the committee.

Hello.

My name is Tim Wikiriwhi.
I am a father, grandfather, a Christian Libertarian, and a Kiwi of both Maori and Pakeha descent.
Te Arawa is my Iwi.

Olivia Pierson: A Hikoi vs A Country

New Zealand’s history is messy, fascinating, and occasionally absurd. The Maoris weren’t exactly sitting around in a utopia when the Europeans turned up. They were busy having a go at each other in tribal warfare and, yes, usually eating the losers.

The British didn’t arrive with halos over their heads either, but they did bring literacy, a legal system and building standards for a life above the dirt. They also brought an uncanny knack for signing treaties which actually meant something substantial when they were signed. The representatives of Queen Victoria would never have signed a treaty in her name without guaranteeing her full sovereignty over that colony. To say otherwise is part of the 'occasionally absurd’ bit.

Barrie Davis: Treaty Economy Paradox

In a recent post (here) Professor Robert MacCulloch claimed that, for an economist, the Treaty is self-contradictory in that guaranteeing to the Maoris that they can retain their assets and treasures in exchange for granting government powers to the British created a contradictory, paradoxical quagmire.

Professor MacCulloch points out that a government has the power to tax. A tax on assets at, say, 2% of their value annually will in a few decades, appropriate the asset to the government. So, asset taxes mean that the government can take the property that was granted in the agreement.

Bruce Moon: Should these books be burnt?

“The first reaction to truth is hatred.” Tertullian, ca160-225AD

In “Stuff” for 2nd July 2023 there appears a piece by one Gabrielle McCullough, entitled “Racist Propaganda; The undercover campaign to infiltrate school libraries.” Wow! “Undercover”? That’s good, since the weapons used in this alleged “campaign” were actually books!! Hard covers or soft??

These books were published by independent publisher, Tross, of Khandallah, Wellington. Librarian Julia Smith at one school was “shocked” to find that a teacher had bought a couple of Tross books which were already on her library shelves. As the Stuff article continues:

NZCPR Weekly: Questions of Credibility

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

This week we raise questions over the Prime Minister’s credibility including over policy decisions regarding green hydrogen, freshwater regulations, and the teaching of New Zealand history in schools, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Michael Coote shares a tribute to New Zealand’s first Governor, Captain William Hobson, who died 177 years ago this week, and our poll asks whether Maori tribal groups should be involved in decision-making over the control of fresh water.

*To read the newsletter click HERE.
*To register for the NZCPR Weekly mailing list, click HERE.  

Bruce Moon: New Zealand's 'real' history

Vincent O’Malley is – or should be – notorious already for his gross distortion of history when, in an article in “The Listener” for 25^th February 2017, he misrepresented as “an almost incomprehensible act of savagery” General Cameron’s humanitarian action in his almost bloodless capture of the Waikato rebels’ primary food source at Rangiaowhia. 

But no!  He has now produced another book entitled “The New Zealand Wars Nga Pakaranga o Aotearoa”, receiving on 18^th May 2019 a nice slice of publicity from the “New Zealand Herald”[i] and even more from “The Spinoff”[ii] the day before.  Once again, his lurid tales in lieu of facts do no service to historicity – the genuine recording of our actual history.  Indeed his very title - “The New Zealand Wars” shows his bias since, whatever they have been called in the past, the only accurate description of those hostilities is as tribal rebellions.    Whatever suffering any tribes may have endured in consequence, they were the direct result of armed conflicts which they started – often, it is fair to say, by warlike chiefs simply spoiling for a fight - Wiremu Kingi in Taranaki and Rewi Maniapoto in Waikato for example.

Clive Bibby: A "Sestercentennial" experience

When some pointy headed colleague dropped this little beauty into the discussion some years ago, I thought he was just trying to demonstrate to the gathering that he was indeed worthy of sharing the air with female knights of the realm (we still call them Dames over here) and other high flyers ranging downwards to lesser mortals like myself.

Actually, I knew instinctively that he wasn't interested in impressing me but it none-the-less caused a few eyeballs to roll amongst those of us who didn't have a clue what he was talking about.

For all our faults, my kind are still able to recognize someone with a dodgy agenda. We have learned our trade in the "School of Hard Knocks" where there is no place for those who feel just that little bit superior.

Bruce Moon: Before 1840

It is a curious fact that there are many part-Maoris today (though certainly not all) who have remarkably good memories about their alleged sufferings since 1840 but completely blank minds about what happened to them any earlier.  It is not hard to work out why this should be but more helpful perhaps to assist them in remembering a bit more about their earlier days.