N.Z.'S FIRST WAR.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 171, 21 July 1936, Page 10

N.Z.'S FIRST WAR.

FASCINATING STORY. EARLY MAORI CONFLICTS. i ADDRESS BY PROFESSOR. i Well worth the telling because it is a fascinating story, full of interesting incidents and particular events,', and because the war was one of vital importance to the early establishment of British rule in New Zealand, a lecture entitled "New Zealand's First War, 18441840," was delivered by Professor J. Rutherford, M.A., Ph.D., to members of the Auckland Institute in the University College hall last night. Professor H. W. Segar was in the chair. Professor Rutherford said he was induced to tell this story for what was his first lecture 011 New Zealand history since his arrival in the Dominion partly because he unearthed, a few months ago, a collection of old papers belonging to Mr. J. 1?. Clendon, resident magistrate at the Bay of Islands during the latter part of the Hone Heke rebellion, or New Zealand's first war. In piecing together the fragments of new information contained in Clendon's letters to the Governor on the state of affairs day by day at the seat of the war, he had been led slowly but surely into a fairly full investigation of the already known first-hand sources 011 the subject, including the Governor's dispatches, the British Parliamentary papers, Henry Williams' diary, and writings by such men as the Rev. R. Burrows and Major Bridge. As a result it >vas his feeling, on emerging from that mass of detail, that there was now room for the correction of some particulars as to events, and also for a wider interpretation of the whole affair.

The professor dealt fully with the Treaty of Waitangi and its meaning to the Maoris and the conditions precedent to the treaty, the origins of the trouble in the North, the weakness of British rule, land policy, trade and Customs duties, the mischievous influences at work among the Maoris and the turbu-; lence of certain younger chiefs. He also described fully the disturbances and defiance of authority which led to the fall of Kororareka. Causes of War. Professor Rutherford pointed out that tho war had not been fought for the possession of land, as had the Waikato war. It had been fought over tho more abstract, but more far reaching issue of political authority and power of Government. The Maoris had been encouraged to challenge the flag and the British sovereignty it symptomised, by reason of visible signs of the weakness _of British power, political and military. It was at least doubtful if British rule could have been maintained had it not been supported by the willing efforts of the loyal chiefs. The war had not been a war of pakeha v. Maori, but a civil war among the Maoris themselves, with the British troopers assisting one party. The loyalty of tho Maoris who had fought for the British had been based upon their confident acceptance of the guarantees of protection given in the Treaty of Waitangi. , "That loyalty was almost entirely duo to the influence of the missionaries of tho Church Missionary Society, who were tireless in their efforts to contradict malicious and insidious talk, in their explanations of the Treaty and of the implications of British rule," said the professor. "The missionaries were not only the forerunners of civilisation in New Zealand in the days of anarchy and lawlessness—they were the makers of New Zealand long after the British flag was run up the mast at Ivororarcka," he concluded.