Motuhake wants to see Queen

Press, 26 November 1980, Page 11

Motuhake wants to see Queen

The Mana Motuhake Party wants an audience with the Queen to discuss Maori grievances over the Treaty of Waitangi. The president of the party, Mr Matiu Rata, said that its inaugural national conference at Taupo had resolved that a delegation should meet the Queen during her visit to New Zealand next October. “We will endeavour to seek an audience with Her Majesty to remind her about the obligation that the Crown has to remind her Governments about the necessity of honouring the Treaty of Waitangi,” Mr Rata said.

He would write to the Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) to gain the audience.

If the party was unable to see the Queen, then its requests would be channelled through recognised Maori leaders. Mr Rata said that the lovalty of the Maori

people to the Crown had arisen through the Treaty of Waitangi. An audience with the Queen would be a recommitment to the conditions of it. The party was also preparing a report on the treaty. “We propose to circulate it to -member countries of the United Nations,” Mr Rata said. “We are claiming tht the British Crown entered into a treaty arrangement with a sovereign State and that we have not extinguished our rights as a people at all, that there is an obligation on the Crown to proceed to honour its undertakings.” The conference, attended by 259 delegates, discussed a wide range of remits ranging from land and education to the Springbok tour, which it opposed. It adopted a constitution and elected delegates to local and national committees.