No end in sight

The New Zealand Wars lasted about 70 years – at least, that’s the view of some historians. The wars began at Wairau in 1843, they argue, when 22 Pākehā and two Māori died, and finished in 1916 during the police raid on Maungapohatu, in Ngā Urewera, when two Māori were shot.

Others prefer a shorter period, between Hōne Heke’s raid on Kororareka in 1845, with 36 deaths recorded, and 1872, when a constabulary officer nursing an injury in Te Haroto received a telegram to say the wars were over.

One of my arguments is for an even shorter period;