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Home / Whanganui Chronicle

'H' debate back on the agenda

By John Maslin
Whanganui Chronicle·
10 Sep, 2014 06:27 PM2 mins to read

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Wanganui District Council PHOTO/FILE
Wanganui District Council PHOTO/FILE

Wanganui District Council PHOTO/FILE

Wanganui councillors will re-enter the "H" debate next month.

Mayor Annette Main told this week's council meeting that the Tupoho working party - a liaison group between the council and Te Runanga o Tupoho - had asked council to include the letter in the council's name.

While government departments, the river, the national park and some other organisations use the Whanganui spelling, the district council has yet to take that step.

Ms Main said council meetings in October would have the matter on the agenda.

Meanwhile, the council has adopted other recommendations aimed at increasing Maori language and imagery in its publications. While these moves got the support of the mayor and councillors Philippa Baker-Hogan, Helen Craig, Jason Granville, Martin Visser, Sue Westwood, Jenny Duncan, Rob Vinsen, Rangi Wills and Hamish McDouall, councillors Ray Stevens and Charlie Anderson voted against them.

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The plan is to modify the appearance of council publications to "more fairly and accurately" reflect the makeup of the community, underlining the council's relationship with local iwi. Council officers said it gave the community the chance to "do this better than any other council in the country".

Mr Anderson said including more Maori language and motifs in council publications was "the thin end of the wedge" aimed at adding the letter "H" to the spelling of the council name.

He believed the majority of Wanganui people did not want the "H" - "But I feel this is where we're headed."

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Ms Main said council had been asked to consider it "and we will".

The council website heading already includes its title in Te Reo - Te Kaunihera a Rohe O Whanganui but Mr Stevens wanted to know when council had agreed to that change. Ms Main said the decision was an operational one.

"If we're quibbling about putting the Maori language as part of our website, it's a sorry state of affairs ..." she said.

Mrs Philippa Baker-Hogan said the council's relationship with local iwi was strong, "but we need to be aware of a balance in this community".

Mr McDouall said council was forgetting that the nation was bilingual. "There's very little on the council website to reflect tangata whenua. It's a simple thing and we should buy into it."

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