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Originally Posted by nightstalker
What are the traditional names for the islands ?
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The North Island and the South Island. Or at least that's what Kiwis called them right up until I shipped out, and AFAIK they didn't stop calling them that after I left.
This smells like both a distraction from the coming economic storm (which has yet to really hit NZ hard), and a way for the new National Party government to suck up to certain groups.
They already reinstated "Royal Honours" after those were rightly scrapped by the previous (Labour) government, and then handed out knighthoods to Nat party members, and to that party's cronies in big business.
My guess is we'll either end up with bogus "traditional Maori" names, or the two islands will get corporate sponsorship titles: Maybe Fisher & Paykel Island and Carter Holt Harvey Island, or similar.