by Roger Childs

The recently revived Kapiti Historical Society had its best turnout so far at its 26 February meeting: 23 members heard John Robinson’s interesting exposition on the link between Waikanae, Te Atiawa and the 1840-60’s Taranaki conflicts.

The next talk also features a similar period, and the life of a fascinating woman who is sometimes overlooked because of her better known husband – missionary Octavius Hadfield.

Kate Williams was the third daughter of Northland missionary Henry Williams and she married Octavius at Otaki in 1852.

Herself a descendant of an early missionary family from Hawke’s Bay, Sheila Williams will speak next Tuesday on Kate Hadfield – Missionary Wife. Sheila worked for many years at the Alexander Turnbull Library and then lectured in librarianship at Victoria University of Wellington.

The talk will be held on Tuesday 26 March at The Kapiti Uniting Church, 10 Weka Road, Raumati Beach. Gold coin koha entry.

The Society aims to have interesting speakers every month or two during 2019. The April session will feature John McLean talking on “Captain Cook; His Life and Voyages” on Tuesday, 23 April. John is the author of Captain Cook for Young People.

(For further information on the Kapiti Historical Society, contact Roger Childs —pamandroger.childs@gmail.com or John Robinson — jlrwaikanae@gmail.com)

As expected, PM Jacinda initiated her semi-automatic firearms ban, but the statistics below contained in an OIA response last December and reproduced on the Police website show why until last Friday there wasn’t an issue.

The next terrorist (and Islamic State have called for an attack in retaliation) will need to obtain an assault rifle illegally, use bombs (the most popular choice for Muslim terrorists overseas) on drones or in a truck, or just use a big truck to mow people down as has happened in overseas cities like Nice, Berlin, Stockholm, Barcelona, London…

Hmm.  Is Jacinda going to fix the real reason last Friday happened — big time security intelligence failure?

No, not the result of a complete blockage forcing SH1 traffic back along the old road; just very thin traffic at about 1:30 pm yesterday, looking northeast from the Ngarara Road overbridge.

Published yesterday, US time.

Today is the first of the two equinoxes of the year which in the northern hemisphere mark the official end of summer or winter.

Greater Wellington Regional Council is advising people not to swim or walk dogs off-lead in and around the Waikanae River below SH1 due to high levels of toxic algae.

Latest assessments show that toxic algae exceed safe levels in the river west of SH1, where river stones are covered and detached mats have been seen.

“With continuing warm weather and a dry spell, we are seeing late season growth, so we are urging people to be careful near the Waikanae River in particular, says Dr Mark Heath, Senior Environmental Scientist at Greater Wellington.”

Toxic algae are below warning levels in all other monitored waterways throughout the region.

Full article on the KC News website

Readers of the Kapiti Independent News, which Roger was a part of till late last year when he parted ways with Alan Tristram and joined our collaborators, will remember the ‘Food for Thought’ pieces.

by Roger Childs

haka — a Maori ceremonial war dance involving chanting.

Are we becoming a country where at an event or function, if in doubt, do a haka? We are familiar with the All Blacks performing a vigorous haka before test matches with belligerent gestures and chanting befitting a war dance. Most Kiwis would probably see these as appropriate.

However, at the Hikoi of Poisoned Nation last year it was out of place. Every hour or so at the gathering in parliament grounds there would be a haka. I struggled to see the relevance of war dances at a campaign meeting to stop poisoning our land and end the killing of birds, animals, fish and insects with 1080.

Back in the early 19th century, haka were frequently performed before battles – a prelude to the killing fields. But are haka appropriate to remember the Christchurch mosque tragedies? Vigils, candles, flowers, message boards and quiet contemplation have all had their place and sent the right messages. But now our mayor, and his counterpart in Porirua, are promoting schools doing hakas on Friday, a week after the killings in Christchurch. Surely war dances are not appropriate to pay tribute to the Muslim dead and wounded?

What did the Chiefs and Hurricanes do before their match last Friday evening? They stood in a circle shoulder to shoulder and observed a minute’s silence. That was highly appropriate and was repeated at sports fixtures around the nation and the world. The students would do well to follow that example.

It appears as the personal full-page statement shown above in this week’s Kapiti News (apparently it was felt that the Kapiti Observer isn’t worth bothering with).

This was a result of official mediation which included other aspects that have made the Osbornes happy.  As we previously reported, Guru was invited to do this in 2017, but was too arrogant to do so.  Perhaps his (council) lawyers persuaded him that a loss in court would not be a good look in election year?

How much council staff time, particularly the highly paid in-house council lawyer Mr Power, was spent on a private matter that should not have been a charge on ratepayers?  We’ll ask.