Editor
I am drawing your attention to a serious breach by Kāpiti Coast District Council in the forthcoming (09/10/2010) Local Government elections, whereby they are pursuing an election process for a fictitious New Zealand District.
Over the past 12 months I have written to the Mayor of Kāpiti and the District Council CEO for them to spell Kāpiti Coast District correctly without a macron. I have even written to the Minister for Local Government but his response was to allow local autonomy to prevail on this matter. He did suggest that I consider approaching the Office of the Ombudsmen to investigate my concerns. Now we are approaching the 2010 District Council Elections and literature provided by Kāpiti Coast District Council (KCDC) continues to refer to a fictitious area they call “Kāpiti Coast District”, with a macron.
Kāpiti the place has always been spelt without a macron. This is proven in New Zealand’s founding document where (on 14/05/1840) Te Rauparaha, a well known Māori Chief of the Ngati Toa tribe, signed Henry Williams’s copy of the Treaty of Waitangi as “Principal Chief of Kāpiti and Cooks Straits”. There is no macron over the “a” in Kāpiti on this document.
On 09/03/2010, TV3 News reporter Daniel Parker confirmed with The New Zealand Geographic Board (through LINZ Land Information New Zealand) that there has never been a macron above the ‘a’ in Kāpiti. This was also confirmed to Daniel by The Māori Language Commission (Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori) when TV3 aired the issue on the 6pm news that night.
I have conveyed to KCDC CEO and Mayor that the word kāpiti means “cabbage” in all reputable Māori dictionaries. They refuse to use appropriate formal and legal channels to bring about a place name change (should it be necessary) but instead have pampered to the wishes of a minority group of ratepayer lobbyists (Te Whakaminenga o Kāpiti) by choosing to adopt an operational decision and call it Kāpiti (Cabbage) Coast District. I also gave them forewarning earlier this year that incorrect spelling of Kāpiti Coast would be an election issue but they have chosen to ignore this.
My complaint is that ratepayers of Kāpiti Coast District will be casting invalid votes in the Local Government elections on 09/10/2010 if our Council distribute voting papers with any occurrence of Kāpiti being spelt with a macron over the “a”.
Martin Warriner
Paraparaumu Beach
(abridged)
