Post #761799 by komohana on Thu, Mar 31, 2016 6:18 PM

https://www.govt.nz/browse/engaging-with-government/the-nz-flag-your-chance-to-decide/

The wooden panel pictured above clearly places the tiki on the British side.

The Maori, at least, could see the writing on the wall and petitioned the British Crown to establish a colony,
ostensibly to keep the French out... also the American whalers who were treating the place as a massive whore-house.

Imagine if this were not so. At the time, the fledgling colony of New South Wales was desperately struggling for survival,
and the British were extremely reluctant to extend themselves further.

If NSW had failed, the French would certainly have seized control both of New Zealand AND Australia -
at least on the Eastern seaboard, with possibly the Dutch [or others] here in the West.

Fast forward a hundred years or so:
Both France and the Netherlands were occupied by Nazi Germany - which was allied to Imperial Japan.

If the British had failed in New South Wales and the Maori had not pleaded for a British colony there - and France had taken control -
the outcome of the Second World War might have been completely different -

because the Japanese might then have had a wide open door to this whole region.

HOORAH for the Maori !!

[ Edited by: komohana 2016-04-01 17:55 ]