Published 14th June 2020.

The accidental death of a drugged up Black criminal, George Floyd, is being manipulated on a worldwide scale as part of an offensive against European heritages. In the USA the process of destroying monuments has been resumed, one such target being the beheading of a Christopher Columbus statue. Black Lives Matter is well funded by oligarchs such as the Rockefeller Foundation [1] and Soros’ Open Society Foundations, et al. It is the usual historical nexus between the Left and plutocracy. In Britain statues of historical figures are being removed.

In New Zealand the vandalising has been taking place for decades, a recent example being the paint splattered over a statue of Abel Tasman at Tahanui Beach, Nelson. The Maori Party has urged a Government enquiry into the removal of statues, street and place names reflecting the colonial heritage. [2] This seems likely to occur given the type of Government we have.

The process has already started in Hamilton. Here the Hamilton council promptly acceded to demands by a Kaumatua, Taitimu Maipi, to remove the statue of Captain John Hamilton, after whom Hamilton city is named. As I write the news is that the statue has already been removed. Mr Maipi threatened to remove the statue himself, and made reference to support from the Mongrel Mob. The statue had been splattered with red paint and attacked with a hammer by Mr Maipi in 2018, who was discharged without conviction. [3]

Captain Hamilton led the charge of his men on Gate Pa, Tauranga, in 1864. The action was to help constrain King Movement rebels. A newspaper correspondent gave an account when troops took possession after the failure of the first assault:

‘Three men of the 43rd L.I. were lying dead against the inner paling of the fence. On entering the Pa, within a few yards the bodies of four Captains of the 43rd were lying, and further on in line with the others, Colonel Booth of the same regiment was leaning against the rear palisade of the Pa, his spine smashed by a big Tower musket ball, and his arm broken. He was still living, and on being carried out saluted his General, and expressed his  regret at not having succeeded in carrying out his orders. Officers of the ships were lying stark dead in line with the others in the same trenches, and as they were alone must have been in advance of their men and fell while nobly leading them. Captain Hamilton, H.M.S. “Esk,” and Captain Muir of the 43rd, lay in the same trench, having fallen while leading their men. Captain Hamilton, of the 43rd, was lying against the fence, and was still breathing. He had been mortally wounded and left lying in the Pa all night amongst the enemy. Close by him were the bodies of Captains Glover and Utterton of the same regiment. In the centre rifle pit lay Lieutenant Hill of H.M.S. “Curacoa,” who was the senior surviving officer of H.M.S. “Orpheus,” lost on the Manukau Bar, February 7th., 1863. Poor Hill had lived long enough to bind up his wounds with strips of his handkerchief, though shot through the centre of the neck and both cheeks. The dead body of a sailor lay in the second trench, the head split in two across the face by a tomahawk blow, entirely emptying the brain. The Gunner of H.M.S. “Miranda,” (Mr Watt) had his head severed from crown to lower jaw by one cut from a tomahawk, the cut passing straight through the nose. Captain Hamilton, H.M.S. “Esk,” lay with a gun shot wound in the temple through which the brain was protruding, but still alive.”

‘The rings, watches, money, trinkets, clothing, etc., of our dead, were untouched. This was the finest action of the enemy through the struggle. No one expected it, or could have believed that the exultant rebels would refrain from satiating their passion for revenge by mutilating the helpless bodies. But thank God; it was not so. They had previously determined on a chivalrous and honourable method of carrying on the war, and most scrupulously observed it’ [4]

There are several salient points about this account: (1) The bravery of the colonial soldiers, notably so that of Captain Hamilton and other officers. (2) The chivalric manner by which the Maori treated the defeated troops, as they had promised. This was not always the case; hence allusions in the closing paragraph of the above account to refraining “from satiating their passion for revenge by mutilating the helpless bodies”. This is a reminder of the chivalry that can exist between enemies with a sense of honour. It is difficult to discern any such honour among those who now creep about vandalising monuments, and those who have them torn down. It is tantamount to grave desecration.

The next logical step is for the name of Hamilton City to be changed. Mr Maipi is already urging this, stating that the city should be named after the village, Kirikiriroa, meaning “long stretch of gravel”.

It is to be supposed that only Europeans are “guilty of colonialism”, and that this has resulted in a legacy of “white privilege.” To suppose that there was any such “white privilege” other than that of a small number of oligarchs who know only commitment to money and have no bond of race kinship, is to consign the suffering of Britons, Scot, Irish and other Europeans, under industrialism to the Memory Hole. In their new-found zeal for “identity politics,” this requires the Left to ignore the socialist classic by Friedrich Engels, The Condition of the Working Cass in England (1845)which provides a documented account of how our forefathers actually lived; where “white privilege” was not very conspicuous.

Colonialism is part of the history of many races throughout the world. Prior to European colonialism there was no conception of Maori as a unified race or people. Tribal warfare for the conquest of land was a manifestation of colonialism. The Tainui expanded their land at the cost of others, no different from the manner by which Europeans, Asians and Arabs (or African and Indians tribes) expanded their territories for living space and resources. Does it need reminding that the reason why Britain, reluctant by that stage to extend its Empire further, colonised New Zealand at the request of Maori eager to benefit from British law? Some might wish, the way the Euro-New Zealanders and our forefathers have been continually denigrated, that the British Establishment had refrained from this exercise in British liberal do-goodism.

Further Reading: Gate Pa and Te Ranga – The Full Story, by John Robinson and John McLean, Tross Publications, 2020; https://trosspublishing.co.nz/publication/gate-pa-and-te-ranga-the-full-story

[1] Statement of Violence against Black Americans, Rockefeller Foundation, https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/news/statement-on-violence-against-black-americans-by-dr-rajiv-j-shah-president-of-the-rockefeller-foundation/

[2] We Can’t be Blind to Racism, Stuff, 11 June 2020; https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/121792634/we-cant-be-blind-to-racism-mori-party-seek-review-of-historical-monuments

[3] Man Vows to Tear Captain Hamilton Statue Down, Stuff, 12 June 2018; https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/121802338/man-vows-to-tear-captain-hamilton-statue-down

[4] A Sad Sight, The Story of Gate Pa, http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-MaiStor-t1-body-d2.html