W Ratter

Usually, I do not read or respond to D Dawson’s letters anymore as I find them unutterably repetitive and tedious.

However, I cannot let the following statements pass:

One, “New Zealand was colonised by people well before Māori came to these shores”.  This is utter bunk and has been disproved many many times by numerous people whose jobs and disciplines it is to know these things.

Two, “Māori have a lot to thank colonisation for - … dogs… jobs… British surnames...”

Why on earth should anyone be “thankful” for a British surname? Especially at the loss of their own unique identity?

Archaeological records show that Māori had dogs long before anyone else arrived in this country; they brought dogs with them from other parts of Polynesia.

Māori had “jobs” (fishermen, farmers, sailors, navigators, weavers, builders, carpenters, carvers, ropemakers, religious leaders, politicians, healers, midwives) long before British colonisation, otherwise they all would have died of starvation and exposure.

What an absolute crock.