Professor Howard

Press, 2 May 1981, Page 14

Professor Howard

Sir,—Professor Howard, a five-minute visitor to New Zealand, must be joking. After belittling our Maori people she proclaimed she had yet to meet a Maori lawyer. Why a

Maori lawyer? Why not a Maori Chief of the General Staff, or bishop or surgeon or accountant or schoolteacher. Why not a Minister of Maori Affairs or Police, or Maoris representing European seats in Parliament; the present Government has several. Professor Howard’s claims are just as ridiculous and unsupportable as the decisions of the so-called Human Rights Commission that . discriminates against Christians. Provided one is a stirrer, and irrespective of unadulterated drivel, one is assured of a six-column headline and a front-page photograph. Ms Howard is welcome, particularly as she makes us laugh, but oh dear, what price a professor in the United States? — Yours, etc.. # FRANK FREEMAN. :f3 April 30, 1981. Sir.—l find it difficult to see how Professor Howard (The “Press,” April 30), can consider herself to be in a position to pass such judgments about our society when she is merely a visitor to this country. It is my experience (I am a pakeha) that most New Zealanders are quite satisfied to have the person most suitably qualified for the job. whether they are Maori, pakeha or whatever, and if this meant that professionals were all Maoris, we would not mind. Such comments from someone who does not even live here can do no more than cause disharmony among Maori apd pakeha. It is only the imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ to the Earth to set up God’s Kingdom here with the world - capital in Jerusalem, as clearly taught in the Bible: and vindicated each day by the world news, that will provide the solution to all the world’s problems. — Yours, etc >’ E. -R. SURGENOR. April JO,i 1981.