I read Pat Spellman from Tauranga wants Tauranga City to be the first to have signs in public places both in English and Te Reo Maori.

Before he does that, why don't we also have Mandarin and Gaelic language included as well, as Chinese and Celts were here long before Maori arrived. The Celts (Scots), who were here first were the indigenous people of New Zealand, and one of their languages is Gaelic.

Maori were never a race of people, they were a group of coloured people that were abandoned here as slaves, no women, by a Chinese pirate/trader Admiral Zheng He.

A great number of these people were sick with chest complaints, TB suspected. The Scottish people who were already living here took them under their wing and nursed them back to health.

As none knew where they came from, the Scots called them ''Populi de mare' (Latin for people from the sea). This became simple ‘mare', then ended up as Maori and has presently reverted to its original pronunciation.

Ian Brougham, Wanganui.