A selection of letters to the editor. Have your say by clicking the link at the bottom of this page or by commenting below. Please also see letters rules at the bottom of this page.
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The item referring to "the flag of the United Tribes" and "an independent state" (Text Views, February 18) is a peculiar distortion of historical facts.
On October 28, 1835, 35 chiefs and heads of tribes from North Cape to the Thames River assembled at Waitangi. They had been called together by the British Resident, James Busby, who was reacting to rumours of French annexation and the plan of adventurer Charles de Thierry to establish an independent state in the Hokianga area.
A document proclaiming the independence of our country and beseeching King William to "protect our infant state from all attempts on its independence" was presented to the assembly. It was signed by the tribal representatives under the title of the United Tribes of New Zealand.
As our country had no constitutional status at the time, the declaration was not ratified.
The tribal representatives never convened again and Busby's dream of uniting the often fractious tribes under one flag was not realised. Strangely, his dream has passed into history as the flag of the United Tribes of New Zealand.
