It’s great that the Tino Rangatiratanga flag is fly alongside our dreadful national flag on Waitangi Day. Let’s hope it soon supplants that British hand-me-down and becomes the flag for all of us. Bugger the Pakeha naysayers. Bugger Shane Jones and the other Maori naysayers. We should have a national flag that is ours and ours alone. The Tino Rangatiratanga flag is a cracker, as I explained a few months ago here. Lets adopt it and get on with becoming a republic.
Today in NZ history- 25/01/1974 - First day of competition at Christchurch Commonwealth GamesThe opening ceremony of the ‘Friendly Games’ had featured performances by schoolchildren and a Māori concert party. Next day, Canterbury runner Dick Tayler ensured the success of the Games with a surprise victory for the host nation in the 10,000 m track race.
- 26/01/1844 - Governor FitzRoy arrives in Wellington to investigate Wairau incidentFaced with demands for revenge after 22 settlers were killed in an incident in the Wairau Valley, Governor Robert FitzRoy decided that Māori had been provoked by the unreasonable actions of the Europeans.
- 26/01/1984 - Floods devastate SouthlandA record one-day total of up to 84.8 mm of rain caused extensive surface flooding in the streets of Invercargill, Riverton, Ōtautau, Tūātapere and Bluff.
- 27/01/1962 - Peter Snell breaks world mile recordThe 23-year-old Olympic 800-m champion hoped to run the first four-minute mile on New Zealand soil. In fact, he broke Australian Herb Elliott’s 3½-year-old world record by the smallest possible margin, 0.1 seconds.
- 25/01/1974 - First day of competition at Christchurch Commonwealth Games
