Waitangi free of disturbance

Press, 7 February 1986, Page 5

Waitangi free of disturbance

PA Waitangi Obervances at the Waitangi Treaty grounds passed without violence, confrontation, or a single arrest on Waitangi Day this year. For the first time since 1978, the northern observances escaped the wrath of protest elements, churches, and politicians alike.

Picketing, vocal interjections, harassment and embarrassment were absent as the northern Maori people talked about reconciliation and understanding in informal ceremonies at both the treaty grounds and the Waitangi marae.

Even on the political front there was accord that the official commemorations on February 6 each year should return to Waitangi. The Minister of Maori Affairs, Mr Wetere, conceded at the treaty grounds that the ceremony should return to the north.

The Leader of the Opposition, Mr McLay, made it clear that his party was committed to the return of the observances to Waitangi, after full consultation with the Maori people. . Mr Wetere, with the Minister of Internal Affairs, Mr Tapsell, and the Minister of Customs, Mrs Shields, attended the morning ceremony, but returned to Wellington for the official observances. The full complement of

Opposition members, including Messrs McLay, Bill Birch, Winston Peters, Rodger McClay, Neil Austin, John Banks, and Alexander Lockwood Smith, and the Northern Maori Labour member, Dr Bruce Gregory, stayed on for the Waitangi marae commemorations. The church service in the Treaty House grounds in the morning attracted about 1000 people who heard speakers emphasise a theme of peace, harmony, co-operation and understanding. Instead of the rowdy protest which marred last year’s commemoration, only a few protesters walked on to the area in front of the meeting house reserved for clergymen and speakers, then sat through proceedings silently with their flags. Although not listed as one of the speakers, Dame Whina Cooper took the microphone at the end of the service to make an impassioned plea for the return of the official Government commemoration to Waitangi.

A Tai Tokerau elder and member of the Waitangi National Trust Board, Sir James Henare, called for a healing of the rifts between people. . To the applause of the crowd, he said he would not attend the Government Waitangi Day commemoration in Wellington because he could not leave his people in the north. <u