Sophie Gee

There's a complicated description of him, though, which is when Alan describes Te Pohe Ha and what makes him such a sort of, it makes him a cut above in the world of the Maoris.

And Alan says, I met him at the hotel and found him very interesting.

There's no colour prejudice in this country, apparently.

Well, not the way there is in India, for instance, which is actually a sign that Alan doesn't really understand the culture, that he's an outsider too.

Mind, there are Maoris and Maoris.

Te Pokiha's high caste.

His mother is a princess and his father is a fine old chief.

The doctors have an English college education, as you've just explained.

He's 90% civilised.

All the same, sir, there's the odd 10%.

This is someone else explaining it to Alan.

It's there, no matter how civilised they are.

See him when he goes into one of the backcountry pars and you'll find a difference.

See him when he goes crook.

By gee, I did once.

When he gave evidence on a case of, well, it was an unsavoury case and the doctor felt strongly about it.

His eyes fairly flashed.

He looked as if he might go off at the deep end and dance a haka in court, a war dance.

So, you know, this is a little exchange between two white people in New Zealand.

And there's a lot of kind of stereotypes about Maoris coming out here that, you know, what makes Te Pokiha a cut above is that he's the child of a princess and a great chief, but that at any moment he might kind of burst into a war dance.