UNPAKEHARLIAMENTARY

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29336, 15 October 1960, Page 12

UNPAKEHARLIAMENTARY

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The word pakeha Is a meaningless appellation that doesn't do justice to the race we belong to . . . The word Maori is always given a capital M but pakeha always has a small P . . . The tact is that pakeha doesn't signify a race at all. It Is just a nickname and a vulgarism."—Mt R M. Algie. speaking to the Waitangi Day Bill in the House of Representatives. I am a Pakeha and proud of it, Although I seldom brag aloud of it Call me a (p)akeha small *p’ Or large, it’s all the Same to (M)e. Our Forbears in this Land (good Luck to them!) Were given the Label, and it stuck to Them. Maori and pakeha that Priority Belonged by Right to the Majority. “Pakeha and Maori” doesn’t sound Historically the right Way round. My own Researches don’t confirm Ron Algie's Verdict on this Term: A Vulgarism! he cries disdainfully. Its widespread Use affects him painfully. In his Opinion there’s some Slur in it But Maori Linguists don’t concur in it: No less than Kumara or Kauri, Pakeha’s perfectly good Maori; And as in English too, Disputes are Possible over what its Roots are. One Meaning’s “foreign,” another’s “fleas,” Or “disarranged” (like Hair in a Breeze) Or "Beings resembling Men, with fair Skins” (Pakeha Skins being unlike THEIR Skins). Good Maori and good English Why, Ron, It’s older than the Poet Byron! Vulgar, you say? Now, that’s absurd It can’t be, when I USE THE WORD!