A crucial meeting

A Citizen Presents a Petition to his Mayor

 

 

On Thursday last I attended a small ceremony in the foyer of the District Council Chamber in New Plymouth. This is the press photo of that occasion.

 

Hugh Johnson (left) has just presented the mayor, Andrew Judd (right), with a petition containing enough signatures to force a referendum; the Council will have to ask the citizens to vote on whether or not to establish a Maori Ward, so that Maori voters can elect their own councillor. General opinion is that the vote will go against the proposal.

 

In the centre is Rangi Rukuwai, whose whakapapa reaches back to the Parihaka leaders in 1881, when the village was attacked by pakeha militia, who were not resisted, but welcomed with songs and food.

 

Rangi had blessed the meeting and the Mayor presented Hugh with a kowhai seedling as a gift from the Maori delegation who had come to support him (the Mayor).  There were Pakeha in the support group as well, including me and several friends.

 

The idea was to demonstrate goodwill and acceptance to the citizens supporting the petition, just as the Parihaka people did in 1881.

 

The Council has tried from its side to establish a workable means of negotiating with Maori iwi for several years.  According to the law, Councils must do one of three things: either establish a Maori Advisory Committee, or appoint Maori representative to its own committees, or establish a Maori Ward to enable Maori to elect their own councillor.

 

The Council here has now tried all three methods. Presumably the community will need to devise some other way of ensuring Maori interests are safeguarded in accordance with the Treaty.

 

Some Maori feel that none of these alternatives gives them the status that they understand the Treaty requires, and many Pakeha, especially those who do not care about the Treaty, do not see a need for a special arrangement, although most would apparently be happy to see a Maori person elected to the Council in the normal way; we have had Howie Tamati as a councillor for many years

 

Andrew Judd has staked his political future on this proposal, and he admits he is likely to lose the next election because of his stance, which is a result of his eye-opening experience of reading about the Treaty and the history of Maori iwi in Taranaki since 1840. As he says: "What has anyone got to lose?"

 

How could anyone not stand to support him?