[Muhooly’s] wife rested there. Her head was fragments of skull and pulped brain; her throat ripped, her torso superfluously shredded. Three children lay near, similarly used, the youngest quite headless. –Maurice Shadbolt in Season of the Jew, p. 212

by Roger Childs

In the wake of the Christchurch tragedy, I haven’t noticed the Mainstream Media listing the worst massacres in our history. It’s a rather sensitive subject and probably not Politically Correct to compile a record.

Back in 1835, Ngati Tama and Ngati Mutunga, according to Michael King, killed at least 220 Moriori on the Chatham Islands. Other historians like Andre Brett see the killing as genocide and give higher estimates of the dead.

However, if the period from 1840 is taken as the timeframe, then the biggest death toll occurred at Matawhero in Poverty Bay when overnight on 9-10 November 1868, 70 innocent settlers and Maori were slaughtered there by Te Kooti and his warriors. Shadbolt’s account in his novel is soundly based on the records of the time.

Respected historian Ron Crosbie in his book Kupapa states:

The night time raid … involved a brutal massacre with widespread killing, raping, pillaging and burning of farms… The total killed numbered 37 Maori and 33 Pakeha men, women and children.

But Te Kooiti wasn’t finished. In April 1869 in the Mohaka area over 50 people, mainly Maori were killed in a series of raids.

Many history books remain quiet on Matawhero and Mohaka, and where it is mentioned there is usually no condemnation. Renowned historian James Belich in The New Zealand Wars and the Victorian Interpretation refers to the Te Kooti slaughter of innocent people “as an understandable act of war.”

However, the Matawhero massacre was not a case of people waking up to find themselves on a battlefield and getting caught in the crossfire. Like in Christchurch 150 years later, it was a calculated act of terrorism.

Some readers may have seen an article in the DomPost recently about deer surviving 1080 drops on the West Coast, but Fairfax a.k.a. Stuff so far has not published OSPRI’s admission of massive Molesworth deer deaths.

by Carol Sawyer

Admission by DoC’s dirty work 1080 agent 

OSPRI finally admits that 92% of the deer population were killed by the aerial 1080 poison drop in October 2017.

Eight helicopters dropped toxic 1080 bait at 2 kg/hectare on a 61,200 hectares area in late October, 2017. This iconic high-country station is owned by the people of New Zealand and is a recreation reserve managed by the Department of Conservation.

Molesworth Station is a massive 180,787 hectares and a further two aerial 1080 drops (ca. 60,000 hectares each) were planned. These were deferred “after the initial possum control operation [in] 2017 killed more deer than expected” an OSPRI spokesman told the NZ Herald on 17 August 2018.

A hunters’ survey at the time, reportedly of approx. 10% of the 61,200 hectare poisoned area, reported 345 dead deer — whole family groups. As it was Spring (late October) there will have been fawns left to starve.

What about the Deerstalkers survey?

The Marlborough branch of the New Zealand Deerstalkers Association then commissioned a survey of the whole area aerially 1080 poisoned, “to assess the amount of collateral damage done by 1080 poison” and to “inform the public debate.”

They hired helicopters “to methodically sweep 60,000 hectares of the country’s largest high-country farm, Molesworth Station, counting the number of by-kill deer after the toxic poison drop.”  The survey results have never appeared.

On 14 February 2019, it was announced that the results of the survey, together with a report by Lincoln University PhD student Kaylyn Pinney would be released to the public “within a month.” Here we are, 27 March 2019, and the report has still not been made public.  It is now nearly 18 months since the aerial 1080 poison drop.

OSPRI’s Jennifer Lawn spills the beans

However, there was a meeting of the Upper Clutha branch of the NZ Deerstalkers’ Association held recently  in Wanaka. Approximately 25 people attended.

A representative from OSPRI, Jennifer Lawn, was in attendance to talk about their TB-free programme, and in particular the results of their aerial 1080 poisoning of the Timaru Creek area, Lake Hawea, on 20 June 2018.

Ms Lawn (OSPRI Operations Extension), when giving figures on how many deer are killed by 1080 poison, volunteered the information that 92% of the total deer population on Molesworth Station was killed by the October 2017 poison drop.

If 345 deer were killed in 10% of the station originally surveyed, and the kill rate is 92%, that means that presumably up to 4,000 deer were killed in that one 10080 operation!

poster art by James Smith

No wonder OSPRI “deferred” the remaining two thirds of Molesworth Station.

It should be remembered that this poison operation was to kill possums, not deer.

It should also be remembered that–

• pigs, goats, and birds were killed in unknown numbers at Molesworth as well
• insects feeding on poisoned carcasses are always killed in such operations
• birds such as falcons, owls and hawks are killed when they feed on carcasses, on poisoned insects, or on the baits themselves.
• Animals that ingest 1080 suffer a prolonged painful death.

(Jim Hilton pic)

On 28 March 1919, Geoffrey’s paternal grandfather Albert was discharged from the Army Medical Corps “on account of illness contracted on active service.”

This was from mustard gas used by the Germans on the Western Front which affected him the rest of his life. He was just 20 years 3 months old at the time. When he enlisted in 1915 he was 16 and went to the Gallipoli campaign.

Snopes.com is a very useful website which in its own words: “has long been engaged in the battle against misinformation, an effort we could not sustain without support from our audience. Producing reliable fact-checking and thorough investigative reporting requires significant resources. We pay writers, editors, web developers, and other staff who work tirelessly to provide you with an invaluable service: evidence-based, contextualized analysis of facts.”

It is, however, American-focused and doesn’t cover NZ, unless there is a connection with America.

The Mainstream Media in NZ, particularly TV One News and Stuff, just goes from bad to worse and it would be easy to employ people on a NZ-based equivalent to Snopes to investigate and debunk their reports.

TV One News is just interested in sensationalism to attract viewers to boost ratings and justify big advertising charges. Stuff clearly believes that it is part of an official “Ministry of Truth” and doesn’t tolerate criticism or even attempts by the targets of its often biased and inaccurate reports to comment on them.   Hence the need for independent websites to do what often lazy, second-rate MSM journalists don’t: investigate and report objectively and truthfully.

This is one of the more pleasant Waikanae new subdivisions, not least because the existing undulations in the former bushland were retained, instead of the land being bulldozed flat to maximise the number of sections that could be squeezed into it.

According to the website there are a total of 62 sections with an average section size of 1,550 m² which is a lot larger than is typical nowadays.  Of course, that was reflected in the prices wanted.  There are also fairly restrictive covenants which we know have deterred some prospective buyers.

The majority of the lots now have houses on them, although there are still some vacant.

Condolences over Christchurch

Some of you will have noticed the message of condolence we posted to join the nation in mourning over the horrific terror attack in Christchurch. The violence in Christchurch was not just an attack on the Muslim community – it was an assault on our free society, intended to spark terror and disrupt peace.

In our view, “[the] principle of freedom of speech should be inseparable from the principle of non-violence. If not, it counts for nothing. Those who condone or use violence are the villains, always.”

In the wake of terror attacks, Governments often consider curtailing a number of civil liberties. With that in mind, the Coalition has invested time into following Government announcements and calls for action from political parties and NGOs.

We have made inquiries about some of the reactions that raised our concern. We asked ISPs if they blocked certain websites due to government pressure, and have sought more information about the arrest of a Masterton woman for posting material on Facebook.

We refrained from public statements due to a lack of information on those cases and out of respect for families who had yet to bury their loved ones. Unlike our opponents we were determined not to politicise the tragedy in the immediate aftermath, especially when the nature of any speech restrictions was not yet clear.

Considered opinions

While many commentators responded with ill-considered and highly-politicised outbursts, there have been some excellent and considered opinion pieces that deserve to be shared.

They include Bryce Edward’s article urging caution over kneejerk blaming and Chris Trotter’s post that warns against the expansion of our legislation to include “hate speech”.

We recognise that the events in Christchurch are likely to mean our group will need to work harder to ensure New Zealanders are able to freely impart and receive information. We are currently refreshing our website which will begin to include articles from our members (and other commentators) that sensibly deal with issues of speech rights. If there is an article you recommend (or if you yourself have a contribution) please send it through for consideration.

Chief Censor decision

The Chief Censor announced over the weekend that the terrorist’s 74-page manifesto is now classified as ‘objectionable’, making it a crime to hold, share, or quote from. This is a dangerous precedent that seems to fly in the face of the rights of New Zealanders to seek understanding about the motivation behind the terrorist’s evil acts.

On Saturday we issued this press release which quickly led to coverage on RNZ and even Time magazine:

“Our society has surmounted many more terrible threats than this by allowing each citizen to engage, hear, read, and reject evil for themselves.  It is completely alien to our history and our strength of a self-ruling citizenry to be told that only those in power may know and tell us what they want us to think an evil person has written.”

This morning I appeared on the AM Show to articulate our concerns.

The video linked above starts with an interview with the Chief Censor. My segment begins at 5’45’.

We are currently seeking advice on how best to fight the Censor’s decision, but to read the material ourselves we have to wait for the Censor to approve this (or we risk going to jail).

Jordan Peterson and Whitcoulls

A number of our members contacted us about Whitcoulls’s decision to stop selling Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life, due to what the company describes as “some extremely disturbing material being circulated prior, during and after the Christchurch attacks”.

The Free Speech Coalition did not make a public statement on this issue, and unless there is evidence the government pressured Whitcoulls, we will not take a formal position on what seems to be a matter between a private company and its customers.

I encourage those interested to contact Whitcoulls about the matter here.

In the meantime, the Free Speech Coalition will continue to focus its efforts on the actions of government (or government-funded) authorities, and others who would use coercion to shut down free speech.

This work is only made possible due to your kind contributions. Thank you for your continued support.

Dr David Cumin
Spokesperson
Free Speech Coalition

From Margaret Stevenson-Wright who comments: “It was just wonderful – absolutely joyous in fact. The ‘big dog’ session late afternoon had 100 dogs registered. There were zero confrontations – just dogs enjoying being dogs.”

“We make special concrete cycle lane on side of road for you — happy?”