THE TREATY OF WAITANGI.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20563, 3 June 1932, Page 16

THE TREATY OF WAITANGI.

♦— j PARCHMENT'S CHEQUERED j EXISTENCE. I I j RESCUED FROM FIRE AND RATS. IT HE PRESS Special Sernte.] WELLINGTON. June 2. }' C iv .historical documents can have :.ad such a chequered existence as the •amous Treaty of VTaitangi, which was signed on February 6th, 1840, on the north bank of the Waitangi river, and' which, after having been rescued from •ire, the oblivion of official forgetfulness and the ravages of rats, has at last found safe keeping in a tin case ;ndcr the charge of the Internal Affairs Department at Wellington. Ninetytwo rears after its signing this most precious of all New Zealand's records has assumed a new interest, on account uf the generous gift to the nation by :he Governor-General and Lady Bledisloe of the site on which the Maori chiefs, .'liter much hesitation, ceded their rights of sovereignty to Queen Victoria.

Official Neglect. .Short-lived as are the historical traditions of New Zealand, it can perhaps v,g understood that those who were associated with ihe early settlement of the colony put no great store on papers which they, at the time, failed to see ■/-ould become treasured possessions of :he country, but there will be many -,vho will be at a loss to understand how ir came about that the famous Treaty •>( Waitangi was so little considered that it was almost lost in the limbo of official neglect, that it- was until comparatively recent years buried beneath a pile of old records, and that it was f.4ved from total destruction t . only through being accidentally found in the basement beneath the Government buildings, where it had lain as food for rate. To-day the nibbled parchment on which the Treaty was written is handled with care and valued greatly. Few have been privileged to see the original and one o£ the last to be shown the faded writing, traced with impeccable neatness by a forgotten hand, was the Governor-General, who paid a special visit to the Government Buildings some weeks ago to inspect this document' from which dates a notable record of achievement. Signing of the Document. The story of the Treaty's signing, the events which surrounded its framing, its disappearance, and final recovery, provide a eurious footnote to New Zealand's history. The drafting of the Treaty was entrusted by the Governor, Captain Hobson, to Mr James Busby, ■who bad been, appointed British Resident in the Colony, in 1833. The Treaty was translated into Maori by the Rev. Henry Williams, and on February sth, 1840, a mass meeting of Maori chiefs was held on the north bank of the Waitangi river, where the Treaty was read and the chiefs besought to cede all rights of sovereignty over their respective territories to the Queen, who, in turn, would guarantee to them full use and occupation of their lands as long as they wished to retain possession of them; in addition, the chiefs were to yield to the Queen the sole right of pre-emption at prices to be arranged of lands which the proprietors wished to alienate. In return her "Majesty would extend her protection to the natives and confer on them the full rights of British snbjects. Country Combed fox- Signatures. Violently hostile views were expressed by some of the chiefs, but next day 46 of them put their marks to the Treaty. To secure thtf assent of as many chiefs as possible, the Governor set out for Hokianga and Waimate and entrusted copies of the Treaty to others who went through New Zealand securing signatures. By the end of June, 512 signatures had been obtained, including those of all the head chiefs except I two. These original copies oJ the! Treaty are all preserved at the Govern- j ment Buildings. They narrowly escaped destruction by fire when the Government offices at Auckland were burned down in 1841, and the record clerk arrived just in time to rescue them from . the flames. He took them to the house of Mr Felton Matthew, afterwards the residence of Colonel Wynyard, and which still stands in Eden . Crescent. Later the sheets were t&ken to the Colonial Secretary's office, where it is believed they remained until 1865. For some years after that the Treaty sheets were lost sight of on occasions, but in 1877 they were reproduced and then stored in the Dominion Museum at Wellington. From there they were apparently taken at some time to the Government Buildings for they were discovered in the basement there in 1908 by Dr. Hocken. They had been injured by the ravages of rats, but with the help of reproductions Mr A. Hamilton, of the Dominion Museum, and then Mr McDpnald, was able to make a good restoration.

Careful Restoration. Although badly eaten in parts the first draft of the Treaty signed at Waitangi iB now in fairly good condition because of its careful restoration. It is mounted on canvas, about-four feet by two feet, and the writing obliterated by rats has been skilfully restored on new parchment. Captain Hobson's signature is appended as well as that of Mr Willoughby Shortland, who was then Colonial Secretary. Captain Hobsoirs writing is firm and clear but on other sheets the lines waver noticeably owing, it is said, to his state of health, which became bad about that , time/ The other sheets, which were signed all over New Zealand, are for the most part in excellent condition. They also have been mounted and they measure about 22 inches by 12 inches, although some are larger. The marks of the Maori chiefs are of all shapes and designs, and alongside them are the names of the signatories together with the names of the Governor's witnesses, who include Mr Williams, Mr "Willoughby Shortland, Captain W. C. Svmonds, and Major Bunbury, who combed the Colony from Kaitaia fo Stewart Island.