The quote is from Garth George.
I agree. I like titles, and I am annoyed that people who have recieved the equivelant honour in NZ do not have them. I think that this is one thime for retrospective legislation: that people with the first level of the Order of NZ – should be offered this as well.
Because in NZ, it either means 30 years of weaseling in Wellington, or (less commonly but often enough) a lifetime of service.
Some silly people, of course – and they are a small minority – complain that the restoration of titles is, as one letter writer put it, “out of touch with contemporary New Zealand”.
That is arrant nonsense. A Herald poll this week asked, “Is the return of knights and dames in the NZ honours system a good move?” and the response from 3832 New Zealanders was a thumping 76 per cent “yes”.
There are those, too – and Helen Clark (remember her?) is among them – who reckon that, as she put it before the election, “The use of aristocratic titles is outside of the Kiwi value system”.
Nonsense, again. The titles we confer today have nothing to do with aristocracy and everything to do with the regard in which we hold some of our number and having a convenient way to distinguish them.
How many of the ONZ recipients of the past eight years can you name? Not many, I’ll wager. The media are disinclined to publish letters after people’s names, but will invariably use a title.
Thus are we constantly reminded of those on whom we have deservedly (and not infrequently undeservedly) bestowed mana for what is perceived as outstanding national service.
Think Sir Edmund Hillary, Sir Peter Blake, Sir Wilson Whineray; Sir James Wattie, Sir James Fletcher; Dame Ngaio Marsh, Dame Anne Salmond, Dame Whina Cooper – New Zealanders who live and will continue to live in our memories, and easily so because of their titles.
Another silly argument is that we should not restore titles because Australia, Canada and other Commonwealth countries don’t use them. My answer to that is: Who the hell cares what Australians and Canadians do or don’t do? We are secure enough to make our own choices, surely.
via Garth George : Object to titles? Then you, Sir, are a fool – Opinion – NZ Herald News.
