New Deputy for Waitangi Tribunal

Tu Tangata, Issue 34, 1 February 1987, Page 27

New Deputy for Waitangi Tribunal

Mr William McLeod Wilson of Wellington has been appointed as a deputy to Professor Gordon Orr on the Waitangi Tribunal.

A litigation lawyer, Mr Wilson has had wide experience in litigation work with a strong commercial emphasis.

He is the legal adviser to the NZ Educational Institute, the NZ Bankers Association, and the Newspaper Publishers Association.

Suddenly like a wave, happiness came to me, I felt I could leave now, that everything was safe and well. I was the first to leave the cemetery, everyone looked at me. But I knew all was right his body was safe now, with Papatuanuku.

A few days late it was time to take him home spiritually “Kawe mate”. So his “wairua could journey back to where we all began “Rangiatea, Hawaiki nui Hawaiiki roa Hawaiiki Pamamao”.

“Riritahi was his marae it lies alongside the Wanganui river, miles away from the urban world. Untouched. I’d never been there before. It felt like a dream, unreal. It was so peacefully powerfully awake, instant buzz. Life oozed out of everything that moved, that was alive. You see this force was my father, alive in everything, alive in the soft breeze, he touched me, he whispered to me from the river, he kept me warm, he was alive in me, in all that was alive. It was then I realised, Yes. Everything is truly alright. And so began his journey.

For me life continues, but never shall I forget or lose Kiritahi or my father as we will always be part of each other Kiritahi...- one skin, joining, united as one.