Why can't NZ get along?

Psalter wrote:the elders ... expressed their disgust at what the younger generation are up to... and what they seem to expect as right. It made me feel a little bit better... and a little sadder to think what NZ will lose with the fading of that generation.

woody67 wrote:are we, as the white man finally on the receiving end of a mentality we ourselves had a few hundred years ago?

Kosmick wrote:If the maori had the greed to sell their land for a musket and a couple of blankets, why should the Pakeha compensate them millions of dollars by todays market prices. Surely all they should get is the price of a musket and another couple of blankets if anything?

lois lane wrote:

Kosmick wrote:If the maori had the greed to sell their land for a musket and a couple of blankets, why should the Pakeha compensate them millions of dollars by todays market prices. Surely all they should get is the price of a musket and another couple of blankets if anything?

I assume you're not serious here kosmcik, at least I hope you're just joking, but if you are serious - don't you think you're being a little simplistic there?

Kosmick wrote:... Banksy who wants to be Mayor in a big way!

Kosmick wrote:As for Maori seats in Super City Auckland, if they were allowed 3 seats, what about the Islander representation, not forgetting the Asians. By the time everyone had the seats alloted to them there would be none left over for anyone else, never mind Banksy who wants to be Mayor in a big way!

Everybody are equal, all speak to everybody and shake hands with everybody. You never trip along the road but "good morning" of the settlers and "Tenarqua Pakelia" of the Maori greets you. False pride is utterly at a discount. Profane language is nearly unknown, the foul oaths of the home people would soon make them outsiders here. They are, in the country, industrious, godfearing and sober. In the town, often they are loafers, sceptics and drunkards. Drink here, as at home, is the curse of the country. Although licences are exorbitant, hotel keepers (they are all hotels here and very large) get rich and they may well. Nasty, abominable compounds are sold for ale and spirits and all at 6d per glass. It drives men mad. New Zealand has the unenviable reputation of having to care for more lunatics in proportion to the population than any other civilised country.

Places of worship are plentiful and of many various creeds from Church of England to Plymouth Brethren and Spiritualists. All clergy are equal here, except the bishops take precedence in their own flock, as at home.

A country farmer is often a M.H.R. (Member of the House of Representatives) and they are shrewd enough I can tell you. The people here are shrewder than the home people. They can detect a "new chum" in a moment and if they get the chance will learn him something. All are on the look out for one thing and one person. Money and the notorious No. 1.

People here are on the whole better off than the home people. Wages are good, when they are in work, and food is cheap. I bought 16lbs of mutton last Saturday for 3/4d. All nearly are possessed of a horse. Children ride to school on them and carpenters and bricklayers ride to their work. I was speaking to a railway overseer and he said that there were often as many as ten horses at a time tethered along the line, belonging to the natives, and if he wanted to send of them somewhere, he looked out who the nearest horses belonged to. Horses can be kept for little and often nothing and can be bought for £4 to £30. Light weeds can be got at any price. Maories breed most of them. They will breed horses and pigs but cattle or sheep they will not. They grow potatoes and Indian corn. Indian corn is eaten after being steeped in water till soft and nearly decayed, when they consider it palatable. They also eat the bottom of rushes and wood maggots are a delectable treat eaten alive. They have a decidedly nutty flavour. I have reserved the pleasure of trying the dish as I wish to make a grand treat of it and expect to take half a days holiday for the purpose.

They dislike work as a rule and are really children of the Sun. Some are very rich as they hold very much land and are living on the sales. They are sociable, friendly and good tempered and are as much a subject of the New Zealand Government as settlers are. They have to abide by the same laws and are alike protected. Maories have no cause to grumble if the English Government will make a shoemaker’s shop of the rear of Tawhiao and send him back there, they will be sensible. The men are fine men. The women, as a rule, have repulsive, hideous features. Grease and tobacco are the inseparable characteristics of the elderly women. A few of the young girls are as fine looking as any you have seen but they age prematurely and then live for ever, I think.

The Maories, male and female, ride well and are possessed of the finest horses in the country. We have the settlement of Maliwa Junna here close to us. Some of them sleep and live in their wooden churches or meeting houses on weekdays and worship there on Sundays. Others build little rush houses. They live all together with their own people. They are very lax in morals. They are blessed with few children, so few that their race from this cause is gradually disappearing. In time no doubt the Maori will have merged with the settlers into one race, just as with the Saxons and Normans. They are honest as a rule and will beg anything in creation sooner than work for it. They are never hungry as they will eat anything and dare not come out at night for fear of Typo, as they style his sable majesty.

Tikva wrote:Please note the use of the word 'some' in that sentence!

Kosmick wrote:Also, not comparable, since this is the home land of Maori, but other ethnic groups have another homeland. I'm not saying they should go back, just that it is fair they have an expectation of Maori in leadership roles. Yes, I am aware Maori were not always here, but there is no other area where their culture is primary or valued.

Kosmick wrote:The problem with these arse-wipes is that they have no respect, either for themselves or anyone else. They want to stick to the Treaty of Waitangi, fine, let them. But just remember that in the treaty it states that the White man must not sell alcohol or arms to the natives.
Yes I have read the Treaty of Waitangi

Kosmick wrote:The original is in London