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Michael Laws - Source: ONE News -
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Wanganui Mayor Michael Laws has described the Geographic Board's recommendation to add an "h" to the city's name as racist.
The board has accepted a proposal by Te Runanga O Tupoho that the name be spelt Whanganui and it will now be referred to the Minister for Land Information to make a final decision.
A District Council referendum held in May found 77% of respondents wanted to keep the status quo. At the time Laws described the referendum result as "decisive and overwhelming".
Laws says the council's referendum clearly showed residents are against changing the name, but the board seems to have ignored the result. He says he has a constitutional responsibility to fight the decision until there is no fight left in his body.
Laws says it is not simply that the decision is wrong, it's that an entire community has had its views, feelings, history and heritage swept aside.
Te Tai Hauauru MP Tariana Turia says it's very sad the issue has been so divisive. She says the decision by the New Zealand Geographic Board to put the H into the Wanganui is the right one and the Wanganui people will come together over the issue.
Turia is applauding the board members for making such a historic decision. She believes the challenge now is to bring the people of Whanganui together in understanding the significance of the decision.
The government is caught between a rock and a hard place when it comes to deciding on the spelling. Land Information Minister Maurice Williamson will make the final call and says it's more than just changing the name. He says the cost of changing the spelling on buildings and road signs has to be considered.
And the decision has raised the question of how the name should be pronounced. Former Maori language commissioner and Geographic Board member Pat Hohepa says Taranaki people will continue to pronounce it as Wanganui because of their dialect, but the addition of the H now give the place meaning, which is Big Bay.
What do you think of the decision? Should there be an
"h" or not? Have your say on the messageboard below.
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Add a Comment:
Post new commentmenacerec said on 2010-03-27 @ 04:33 NZDT: Report abusive post
Why havn't these "two referenda" been referenced at all? If the execution of polls is flawed they are meaningless. I expect more from the mayor of a city than to waste time this issue.
Psygone said on 2010-03-26 @ 23:50 NZDT: Report abusive post
I used to find this issue so tedious but now Im different. I am a pakeha who has studied the moari culture and tried to embrace it and the whanganui river people. However the attitude of a few Maori on this issue discusts me and Im sorry for myself that it is turning me into a racist and Im sure the same is happening to many Pakeha. To the select few Maori in WANGANUI who wanted this well done in playing the victim and undoing years of co existence.
Pacifier said on 2010-03-26 @ 21:27 NZDT: Report abusive post
I think we should bulldoze wanganui to the ground and make it into a lake or celebrate the future of Whanganui. Its simply, if you don't like Whanganui then move somewhere else. Whanganui doesn't belong to you just because you live in the town, it belongs to Maori who say name it properly
PaulsPOV said on 2010-03-26 @ 20:31 NZDT: Report abusive post
Realy is political correctness gone mad. Everyone's view is interesting but ultimately unimportant. Those who should decide are those who live there. If they want Wanganui, then that's exactly what they should get. Recent history is still history & the spelling mistake has been around for a long time. Personally I grew up with Wanganui - But I'm not a local & are happy to leave it up to them. (This should not be decided by a few political activists trying to make a point)
alli kris said on 2010-03-26 @ 20:14 NZDT: Report abusive post
It is interesting how this has played out. The Maori as i recall did not have a written language; the name Wanganui was given as the first written interpretation. Wanganui is the original and thus correct interpretation of its meaning. To change would create a mistake. this is one reason. The people who have lived for generations in Wanganui have an attachment to that place and equal rights to the local iwi. to work against the majority of the residents in favor of a few is undemocratic.